Clymping skipper Benn Challen is happy his club invested in covers before the start of the season.

They played a big part in ensuring Clymping's division one match against Southwick was not abandoned and enabled Challen's side to stretch their lead at the top of the table.

Heavy rain interrupted the game but the club moved quickly to cover up the middle.

Challen said: "We paid £500 for the covers during the winter and the match would have almost certainly been abandoned if we hadn't bought them.

"If other teams do find they have some spare money, I would urge them to invest in covers. It reduces the risk of games being called off when rain interupts."

With Burgess Hill's match against Arundel abandoned, it allowed Clymping to open up a 21-point lead at the top.

The match was one of only two in the division that finished at the weekend.

Adam Tester was the hero of the day by taking 5-40 as Southwick were limited to 129-9. That paved the way for Clymping to reach their target with six wickets to spare after good knocks from Les Ward (43) and Challen (37).

Challen was full of praise for his paceman, saying: "Adam is a terrific bowler. He did well on a wicket that, despite the rain, suited the batsmen. He gets a lot of swing out of the ball and once he got in among them there was only going to be one winner - unless the rain spoilt it."

Clymping have achieved their success this campaign with a young side. Only two players are over the age of 22.

The other match which survived was Barns Green's win against Pagham.

Pagham must have been satisfied after posting 250-5 with David Lever (63) and Phil Harris (79 not out) top scoring but they had not bargained for Barns Green's Nick Woodward.

He hammered a superb unbeaten 112 which guided Barns Green to a crushing eight-wicket victory.

Geoff Noonan must have been disappointed after hitting 109 for Petworth and then seeing his team's game against Goring rained off. His knock saw Petworth reach 209-2 with Dick Whitcombe making 54. But Goring were 20-1 when the heavens opened.