Title defence begins with a win for Roffey
Roffey CC kicked off their Sussex Cricket League Premier Division campaign in earnest on Saturday.
Despite heavy overnight rain, Roffey’s home game versus Cuckfield CC got underway last Saturday thanks to heroic efforts by groundsman Drew Smallwood and positive umpiring from Messrs Mark Dunford and Alasdair Shaikh.
And, the truncated - 29 overs a side - Premier Division game resulted in a comprehensive victory for Roffey, exacting swift revenge over Cuckfield, who had eliminated them from the Sussex T20 Cup a week before.
Roffey won the toss and took first strike to maximise on the opportunity of batting points. Opener Usman Khan hit the ball very cleanly with seven fours and four sixes in a rapid 60. He was particularly severe on Ollie Graham, and his innings was only ended by a running mix up.
Then, skipper Matt Davies, Sam Henderson and George Fleming chipped in with 20s to enable Roffey to post a useful, but not killer 202-9.
For Cuckfield veteran Nick Patterson took 3-26, while, in addition to engineering Khan’s run out, Ben Candfield finished with 2-45.
Joe Ludlow top-scored with 33, but only two of his teammates managed double figures as Roffey relentlessly
worked their way through to a 123-run victory by dismissing Cuckfield for 79.
Harnoop Kalsi and Luke Barnard each bagged three cheap wickets to open Roffey’s defence of their league title with a very handy maximum 30 point win, especially
as only one other Premier Division fixture was fulfilled - Brighton & Hove CC overwhelming newcomers Haywards Heath CC.
Delighted skipper Davies told the County Times: “Usman got us off to such a good start and then others contributed
to a decent score before we bowled and fielded really well.
“It’s great to begin with a win when we didn’t think we’d play – sincere thanks to groundsman Drew for making it possible.”
Khan added: “I was seeing
it well so it was frustrating to get out, but the win was the main thing!”
This weekend is a big one for Roffey – on Saturday they travel to league contenders Eastbourne CC, and then, on Sunday, host Reigate CC in the National Knockout Cup.