Skippers’ joy at flying form

The top half of the early Sussex Premier Cricket League table makes happy viewing for Roffey CC and Horsham CC.

Roffey sit joint top with East Grinstead after three wins from three, with Horsham hot on their heels in fourth after two victories in the opening trio of matches.

And their respective skippers have told of their delight at their latest triumphs.

Horsham visited reigning champions Preston Nomads on Saturday, pulling off a strong second straight win, bowling out the opposition for a modest 157 and then knocking off the runs with overs to spare.

Skipper Nick Oxley enthused: “I’m very happy with that performance – we were brilliant in all aspects!

“We had some very good personal performances, which is needed to win games.

"Everyone played their part, which I was very pleased with. And, our new overseas signing, Ben Lister, came in and did a great job up top with the ball, fresh off the plane from New Zealand.”

Horsham host East Grinstead on Saturday.

Meanwhile Eastbourne optimistically opted to put Roffey in to bat last Saturday and soon regretted it.

The hosts went on to set another challenging target, Roffey then bowling Eastbourne out to win by 96 runs with eight and a half overs unused.

Only Roffey and East Grinstead have won all of their games to date, the pair jointly heading the table with 88 points each, and delighted Roffey skipper Matt Davies told the County Times: “Three wins from three - we couldn’t have asked for a better start!”

“Rohit was in a class of his own – the only one who found it easy in the conditions after the rain during the week.

“He batted effortlessly and I just hung in, enjoying watching him from the other end. Although we lost a clutch of wickets mid-order, we finished well and 267 was a good score. Our spinners bowled well and Eastbourne were never really up with the asking rate. We just need to tighten up on our fielding – we dropped a couple of catches again, so we’ve got to put that right, otherwise it’ll come back to haunt us.” Roffey visit Three Bridges this week.