Sidley face final day scrap

The Gullivers club holds a seven point lead over rivals Worthing in the race to avoid the Division Two basement.

A second-bottom finish would keep Sidley in the league, but anything less and they would have to re-apply and survive a vote among member clubs against any applicants for promotion from the local feeder leagues around the county.

They managed to retain their place in the league for this their centenary year after gaining a sufficient number of votes against 2005 East Sussex League champions Glynde & Beddingham.

Sidley will host sixth-placed Littlehampton on Saturday September 2 without the services of captain Jonathan Haffenden, who is getting married, Chris Deeprose and Chris Hunnisett.

Phil Belfield, who was victorious in his only other game in charge earlier in the season, will lead a side which will be completed by Jake Beale, Simon Barden and Phil Bryant.

Worthing will visit seventh-placed Pulborough in their final fixture which will also get under way at 12.15pm.

The gap between the two sides was cut by 10 points last Saturday as Worthing enjoyed a much better afternoon than Sidley.

Worthing collected 12 points from their draw at home to Littlehampton after reaching 158-9 in reply to the 236 set by their opponents.

Sidley for their part were comfortably beaten by six wickets after failing to put enough runs on the board in West Sussex.

They were bowled out for 115 in just 36.2 overs as 17-year-old paceman Michael Quest took 4-28 and Evan Miller 4-18 for second-placed Steyning.

The visitors did make inroads into the home batting, but 64 from Andy Simmons extinguished their hopes of an improbable victory. The match ball was sponsored by Sidley Sports Club.