Skipper Graeme Dean believes Ifield have the potential to end Findon's dominance of the division one title.

Third-placed Ifield moved to within eight points of new leaders Findon with a seven-wicket victory over bottom club Pagham on Saturday.

Dean top scored with 64 to help his side reach their target of 194-8 in 43 overs.

Findon, champions for the last five years, showed their title credentials again with a ten-wicket thrashing of Goring.

But Dean has backed his players to keep up the pressure on the favourites and take the championship race down to the wire.

He said: "We are improving all the time and if we can keep doing that then I don't see why we can't push Findon all the way.

"We have won seven of our nine games, which is the same number as the whole of last season.

"We have been much more consistent this year but are still not playing our best cricket. There is plenty of room for improvement.

"Against Pagham, we should never have let them reach that total.

"We dropped too many catches and if we can get rid of those silly mistakes then who knows what we can do? It looks as though this is going to be one of the closest title races for a long time. It is between us, Findon and Billingshurst and we all have to play each other, so it is going to be very interesting."

Findon's James Iago took 5-43 to help dismiss hosts Pagham for 108, before John Rogers (52 not out) and Graham Waller (49 not out) reached the target in just 50 balls.

Simon Parsons (5-30) took five wickets for the third consecutive game to help Ansty beat Broadwater by 81 runs.

Ansty set a target of 211-7, with Dan Morgan making 52, before Parsons starred alongside Shaun Janman (4-14) to skittle Broadwater for 130.

Steve Mullen claimed 7-34 as Arundel shot out Southwick for 63 to win by seven wickets. Arundel reached the target inside 13 overs to move out of the relegation places.

Henfield extended their lead at the top of division two to 29 points after thrashing nearest title rivals Crawley Eagles by nine wickets.

Rashid hit 100 as Eagles totalled 227-7 but an opening stand of 142 by Chris Crampton (82 not out) and Chris Garcia (66) sealed victory.

Lindfield remain in title contention after a comfortable seven-wicket home win over Keymer and Hassocks.

Jamie Tatford (59) and John Price (56) gave Keymer a chance with a fourth-wicket partnership of 101 but Lindfield made easy work of their 175-9 target with Jason Morgan (51) and Kevin Chamberlain (42) top scoring.

Tom Trowbridge hit 77 not out as Burgess Hill made 178-8 to beat Selsey by two wickets. Dave Richardson (54) and Nic Nolan (40) top scored for Selsey.

Scaynes Hill moved out of the relegation zone with a three-wicket win over Slinfold. Wayne Emerson took 5-42 to help dismiss the home side for 179 and Paul Mackay (42) was the top run-maker in reply.