Cuckfield shock league leaders to record first league win

By Community Sport Reporter
Published 8th Jun 2021, 08:53 BST
Updated 8th Jun 2021, 08:56 BST
Nipun Karunanayake celebrates his 100 in Cuckfield CC's shock win over Eastbourne CC. Picture courtesy of Cuckfield Cricket ClubNipun Karunanayake celebrates his 100 in Cuckfield CC's shock win over Eastbourne CC. Picture courtesy of Cuckfield Cricket Club
Nipun Karunanayake celebrates his 100 in Cuckfield CC's shock win over Eastbourne CC. Picture courtesy of Cuckfield Cricket Club
Cuckfield CC entertained top-of-the-table Eastbourne CC on Saturday in the Premier Division as they looked to avoid a fifth consecutive defeat of the season.

With Eastbourne winning the toss and electing to field on a pitch that looked as though it would offer some gentle encouragement for the bowlers, stand-in skipper Joe Ludlow walked out to bat with usual partner Joe Cambridge.

A liberal first over meant Cuckfield raced to 17 before Cambridge's run of low scores continued, caught at slip for six off the bowling of Ben Twine (2-52).

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Nipun Karunanayake came out and began to watchfully accumulate alongside the more attacking Ludlow; the two mixed clever running with some impressively clinical hitting.

Ludlow (53) brought up a deserved 50, before chipping Pocklington to mid-on. Ollie Graham replaced him and he too scored quickly, again running extremely well.

Nipun reached his 50 at the other end and began to up his scoring rate significantly - the two taking the score to 231 before Graham (50) became Twine’s second victim.

Karunanayake (110) quickly brought up his maiden Cuckfield ton and looked set to really hurt the Eastbourne attack before he was bowled by Lenham (2-60) attempting to slog sweep.

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Jimmy Anyon (28) and Harry Clark (22*) kept the momentum going, pushing the Cuckfield score up towards 300 before Anyon holed out off the last ball of the innings with Cuckfield posting 296 of their 50 overs.

Cuckfield were relatively happy at the interval, but with a strong Eastbourne batting line up and a drying pitch to contend with, they knew they had their work cut out.

Led by Anyon (2-30), the Cuckfield attack quickly set about constricting Eastbourne. Wickets were hard to come by in the early stages of their innings, but the introduction of left-arm seamer Will Rogers (3-47) saw Scott Lenham's (32) off stump pegged back, before Anyon trapped Jacob Smith (31) lbw, turning 69-0 into 71-2.

Oli Carter (12) followed soon after to give Anyon a second wicket, leaving Twine and Malcolm Johnson (70) the unenviable task of keeping up with the ever-increasing rate.