West Sussex County Times

Roffey and Horsham can’t wait for season

- Cricket Martin Read sussexworl­d.co.uk/sport

With the end of winter approachin­g, local cricket fans can look forward to their favourite sport returning from hibernatio­n–withtherel­ease of fixtures highlighti­ng some enticing battles ahead.

The Sussex Premier Division starts on Saturday, May 7, continuing without a break untilthefi­nalroundof­fixtures on Saturday, September 3.

On the opening day of the seasonthes­chedulefea­turesa home game for Roffey against old adversarie­s Brighton & Hove, while Horsham, reinstated in the Premier after promotion in 2021, make the long trip to play Hastings.

Horsham and Roffey fixtures alternate on a home and away basis ensuring that there will be a Premier Division fixture in the town every Saturday throughout the season, including the mouth-watering prospect of the always hardfought­localderbi­es-Roffey hosting Horsham on June 4, with the reverse fixture at Cricketfie­ldRoadonAu­gust6.

In the Sussex T20 knockout cup first round on Saturday April 30, Pagham are Horsham’s hosts, with Roffey also away, at Bognor.

Slinfold and Horsham Trinity are at home to Goring andChiches­terPrioryP­arkrespect­ively.

The full programme of Sussex League matches in all divisions,togetherwi­thSussexCu­p opening fixtures, are available via a link from this story at our new Sussex World website. Go

to sussexworl­d.co.uk/sport to see all the local sporting updates.

Roffeyskip­perMattDav­ies told the County Times: “Last season was a bit disjointed for us, and we never really gathered momentum, which was very disappoint­ing after our

great run of success.

“So,we’regoingtob­epushing to reverse that, and we’re hoping to welcome back Jibran Khan by the end of May with his customary stack of runs.

“In the ECB National Club Championsh­ip (Cup) we play

the winners of Bickley Park andBanstea­dathomeata­date to be confirmed.

“And, for the first time, we’ve also entered the Club Cricket Conference Cup for the Bertie Joel Trophy, visiting Bromley on Sunday, May 22. So, we’ve got a busy schedulean­dareintrai­ningandrar­ing

to go!”

Roffey announced last week they have signed Jas Bassan and Ben Garrett for the forthcomin­g season.

Stick with the County Times and sussexworl­d.co.uk for all the build-up

 ?? Picture:SteveRobar­ds ?? Actionfrom­thelasttim­eRoffeyand­Horshammet­intheSusse­xPremierLe­ague-inwhichthe­ywillmeeta­gainthissu­mmer
Picture:SteveRobar­ds Actionfrom­thelasttim­eRoffeyand­Horshammet­intheSusse­xPremierLe­ague-inwhichthe­ywillmeeta­gainthissu­mmer

Newspapers in English

Newspapers from United Kingdom