In-form Thorpe Arnold frustrated by Billesdon tail

There's a big day of cricket in store at Hove

The visitors were outplayed by a Thorpe side who had to be content with a winning draw.

On a day where the weather played a massive part, Billesdon won the toss and bowled first in a match reduced to 38 overs a side.

Thorpe lost Charlie Read to a duck as the difficult batting conditions caused problems, and Tim Hirst was next to go, hitting his favourite cover drive straight to the fielder.

Alex Renwick made 21, but it was again captain Rich Randall who anchored the innings while all of the other batsmen scored 20s around him.

Randall finished on 44 with Myles Hickman (26), Sam Woods (26) and Kingsley Miller (20) all hitting quickfire runs as Thorpe finished on 167-7 from their allocation which looked a very competitive score.

After a deluge of rain at tea, the Billesdon innings was further reduced to 25 overs with a revised target of 107.

That proved a totally unrealistic score as opening bowlers Pepperdine and Gallagher Plowman produced a superb opening spell, bowling five successive maidens as the batsman failed to get near the ball.

James Pepperdine was the chief wicket-taker as he showed his class by making the ball seam/swing at will. Fifteen-year-old Plowman continued to impress with his pace and accuracy, and on another day would of taken at least a couple of wickets.

Billesdon were reduced to 39-7 with four overs left, but by then were just trying to survive which they managed to do.

Pepperdine took five wickets for only 14 runs from his 10 overs, with all of the bowlers helped by excellent fielding, including two outstanding catches.

An excellent all-round performance earned 18 points, a great return on a rain-affected day.

Thorpe: T. Hirst 12, C. Read 0, A. Renwick 21, M. Hickman 26, R. Randall 44, S. Woods 26, K. Miller 20, M. Carnell 0*, S. Pollard 2*, Extras 16. Total: 167-7.

Billesdon: 46-7.

Bowling: J. Pepperdine 10-5-14-5; G. Plowman 6-2-18-0; T. Hirst 6-4-2-1; M. Hickman 3-0-11-1.