It’s a day to forget for Littlehampton

Littlehampton were all out for only 138 and Steyning then chased down the total in just 34.4 overs as Littlehampton dropped Lee Mottershead, who finished 84 not out, three times.

Rive said: “It was our worst game of the year. Scoring only 138 was never going to be challenging enough but we then dropped Lee Mottershead three times when he’d scored between 20 and 60.

“Eight of our wickets were caught and seven were just chipped up to cover or mid-off.

“We needed to score 200 on our deck but we were all out for 138 in only 34 overs, which meant we gave them extra overs to get the runs as well.

“Jordan Farrell batted and bowled very well for us and that was the only positive to come out of the day for us.

“We’re away to Slinfold on Saturday it’s a game we need to win now.”

Several Littlehampton batsmen made starts on Saturday but Jordan Farrell, with 29, top-scored as Steyning’s bowlers shared the wickets around.

Tim Humphries, in his first game for the 1st XI this year, took 3-37 from 5.4 overs, while Matheesha Ranasinghe, Luke Chapman and Lamb all took two wickets, with James Johnson taking the other to fall.

Littlehampton had chances to make Steyning’s chase more nervy than it was but Mottershead was dropped three times..

Jones fell for 43 when he was caught behind by wicketkeeper Michael Askew off Farrell, but Mottershead guided Steyning to victory with an unbeaten 84 and David Curtis-Botting finished six not out.

Steyning moved up to third with the win and their skipper Ed Lamb said: “Littlehampton created some chances to have made the game closer than it ended up being but I’d like to think that we’d have won anyway.

“Bowling wise, everyone chipped in and the wickets were shared around, which bodes well for the rest of the season.”

“I’d have batted first had we won the toss as the wicket was reasonably fast and bouncy and you got good value for your shots as there was a small boundary one side.

“It looked like a 200-plus wicket, so we were delighted to bowl them out for 138.”

The defeat leaves Littlehampton second from bottom in the table, four points above bottom-of-the-table Pagham.