CRICKET: Weekly round-up (August 22)

They beat Belgrave Adelaide by five wickets in Division 3 of the West Sussex Invitation League.

The last time Rustington won a league game was against Aldwick on June 21, 2007, and Saturday's captain Alex Fitch expressed his delight over the win.

He said: "It's a bit of a relief to finally get a win under our belts after going so long without one.

"We got an early run-out, felt a bit of confidence come back and pushed on to win it.

"Everyone was very happy after the match. It can, hopefully, give us some confidence to take into next season and work at getting back up the league."

Fine bowling from Ray Slaughter, with 6-23 in 8.1 overs on his debut, and Simon Gosden, with 3-41 from 15 overs, led to wicketkeeper Richard Hobbs taking five catches behind the stumps and saw them dismiss Belgrave for 99.

Finch opened with the bat and hit 19, Simon Blowen added 16 not out, Richard Hobbs also hit 16 before Adam Taylor got them over the line with five not out, and with five wickets down.

After suffering 13 defeats from their 15 games this season, Littlehampton captain Gareth Challen is targeting at least one win from their final two games, both against Worthing.

Littlehampton narrowly lost by 18 runs against Bexhill on Saturday after a good performance with the ball was let down by their batting efforts.

Left-arm spinner Chris Hanks took 7-57 and Amit Midha grabbed 3-64 to bowl Bexhill out for 212.

Despite an 89-run stand between Littlehampton openers Chris Heberlein (52) and Ben Smith (63), they were all out for 194, and Challen said: "We all know we should have walked it. We kept them to a really good score and should have easily won the game.

"Amit and Chris bowled really well and with our openers setting the foundations, it really should have been seen off, but the rest of us couldn't make up the runs.

"We have nothing really to play for now, just a bit of pride, and the fact that none of us want to go a whole season without a win."

Arundel lost their Sussex League Division 3 West clash against Slinfold by four wickets.

Arundel were inserted by their opponents and made 178-9 after 53 overs as Alex Iles hit 47, Bradley James made 34 and Harrison Temple hit a run-a-ball 33.

However, Slinfold got home for the loss of six wickets.

Arundel captain Richard James said: "On the positive side, we fielded and bowled pretty well but 178 was never going to be enough and it was the batting that, ultimately, cost us the game."

East Preston captain Andy Reeves took the positive of 11 points to keep their push for a third-place finish in Division 1 of the Invitation League alive.

EP suffered a 145-run defeat at bottom-of-the-table Ram after the home side scored 249 and EP were all out for 104.

Reeves said: "We were without five first-team players so I was quite pleased to get out with those points and gain a point on third-placed Crawley Eagles.

"Obviously, it would have been nice to win again, after the little run we've been on, but it wasn't unexpected that we struggled."

Chris Williams (38) opened and top scored in EP's reply but Dan Williams (18) and Graham Laker (18) were the only other batsmen to make double figures and they failed to get close to Ram's total.

Mihir led Ram's attack with 5-25 from his eight overs.

Clymping face a massive final game against Horsham Trinity on Saturday as both teams fight for safety in the same division.

Trinity are currently second from bottom, while Clymping are just six points and one place above them.

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