Premier League champions! Roffey clinch sixth Sussex title

With East Grinstead breathing down their neck and hosting already relegated Brighton, Roffey travelled to Hastings knowing that they probably had to win to clinch the league.

And, when news came through that Grinstead had bowled out Brighton for a paltry 94 and knocked off the runs for a 30 point win just after 3pm, Roffey were under pressure.

But, they went on to pull off a well- organised victory to be crowned winners with 427 points, 12 clear of East Grinstead.

Ecstatic Roffey skipper Matt Davies told the County Times: “We won more games than anyone else (13 out of 18), deserving to be champions, but we should have wrapped it up last week, so it was a great relief.”

It was closely fought tournament right to the end. East Grinstead made the early running with six straight wins, only to then become less consistent, with both Roffey and Horsham lurking in the wings.

Roffey and Mayfield celebrating on final day.

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Yet, halfway through the season Grinstead remained top, before Horsham briefly took over the lead in the second week of July. After that it was Roffey heading the table, initially jointly with Grinstead, then on their own for the six weeks up to the final game, albeit sometimes by a tight margin.

At Hastings, Roffey elected to bat, getting off to a good start with a 94 run partnership, openers Theo Rivers and Mike Norris each scoring 46. A brief stutter followed, but, from 168-4, Davies went on to finish 60 not out, batting first with Rohit Jagota (25), and then Sam Henderson (34) to post 256-5 from the 50 over allocation, Iden McCleave and Adam Page taking two wickets apiece.

Then bottom of the table Hastings made steady progress, scoring more than half the runs with seven wickets and 27 overs left. Opener Harry Scowen made 22. wicketkeeper Jake Woolley 32 and captain Tom Gillespie 51, but Roffey kept whittling away, and, once these three batsmen were out, little sustained resistance was encountered, the hosts sliding to 189 all out for Roffey to win by 67 runs with 15 overs to spare, George Fleming, Jagota, Jas Bassan taking two wickets each, Harnoop Kalsi one and Rivers three.

Skipper Davies said: “We felt 256 was probably enough, but perhaps we might have gone a bit harder. Then we didn’t bowl too well for the first 25 overs, but we hung in there and once we started taking wickets it kept going our way, easing the tension among our nervous travelling supporters.

"This is the fourth time we’ve had to travel to clinch the title and this has been our toughest campaign – other teams have got better and there are some good players around, so it has been a hard slog each week with no pushovers.

"Our commitment to training has paid off. We’ve batted well all through, and, with 50 wickets in his first Premiership season, Jas Bassan has led our attack brilliantly. We’ll be looking to further strengthen to push for the title again next year.”

Roffey star Jas Bassan added: “I set myself a target of 40 wickets, or at least to be the club’s leading wicket taker. I got into a rhythm, especially in the second half of the season and I look forward to returning next year.”