Arundel slip to second after winning draw

Last week, Arundel were held at home to a winning draw by St Andrews and, despite an innings of 95 from captain Joe Bain, they suffered the same fate at Ram.

Southwater took over at the top of the West Sussex Invitation League with their victory over Littlehampton and lead Arundel by eight points. They also have a game in hand.

However, Arundel host Southwater on Saturday in what could be a decider for who will be playing Sussex League cricket next year.

After losing the toss and being put into bat, Arundel got off to a solid start at Ram.

Joe Bain and the division’s leading runscorer Joel Crook (31) put on 61 for the first wicket.

Bain was the mainstay of the innings as he hit 95 and contributions of 21 from David Wells and 17 from Lloyd Rowlatt helped Arundel score 230-7 from 48.5 overs.

Harshil Patel was the pick of the Ram bowlers as he claimed 3-40 from his 12 overs and Deeyam Patel picked up 2-48 from 12 overs.

Ram made a strong start to their reply with a 61-run opening stand between Harshil Patel (45) and Bunty Suthar (42).

Once that partnership ended, Arundel began to pick up wickets at regular intervals as Ram fell to 98-4.

But a contribution of 22 from the hosts’ number eight Danny Patel and 14 not out from Darpan Amin frustrated Arundel as Ram finished their innings on 191-9 from 45 overs, with the visitors just one wicket away from victory.

Left-arm spinner Neil Chitty claimed 4-49 as he moved on to 31 wickets for the season and he remains the leading wicket-taker in the division.

Kieran Hornsby picked up 3-47 and now has 24 wickets this year.

Jacob Temple also took 2-37 from seven overs.