League champions Roffey pick up derby win over Horsham to end on a high

Electing to bat first in the final game of the season, the Boars hit 292-9 off 50 overs thanks to Jibran Khan’s quickfire 83.

The Lions fell short of the target as they were bowled all out for 252 off 48 overs despite Will Beer’s 97.

Roffey had already wrapped up the title and it was local bragging rights on offer, after Horsham had won the first clash earlier in the season.

Home skipper Matt Davies was pleased to close another successful league campaign on a high.

He said: “We batted well and batted aggressively and up top Jibran batted well again.

“Him and Rohit (Jagota) put on a another big partnership and runs came down the order from the rest of us.

“That enabled us to get to a competitive total and then go past that and post something up near 300.

“I think 292 was always going to be difficult for them to chase but nonetheless it was nice to beat Horsham again.”

Roffey’s Theo Rivers (nine) and Ben Manenti (26) fell early to George Garton (1-47) and Jamie Thornely (1-31) but Khan and Rohit Jagota (47) put on 129-runs for the third-wicket.

They were eventually out to Paul Williams (3-44) and Joe Ashmore (2-66) to make it 189-4 but handy knocks from Usman Khan (41) and captain Matt Davies (23) pushed the Boars to 262-7.

Beer (2-48) took two wickets in quick succession before Alex Collins (11*) and Luke Barnard (two*) saw out the Roffey innings.

Horsham’s openers started brightly in reply, as Tom Clark made 18 and skipper Craig Gallagher hit a quick 38.

Both were taken by George Fleming (3-31) but Beer at three was proving to be a headache to the Roffey bowlers.

He and Ashmore (17) put on a 54-run fifth-wicket stand after a mini Lions collapse as Fleming and Barnard (2-47) picked up wickets.

Mika Ekstrom (28) and Beer then added 67-runs at seven before Ekstrom was trapped lbw by Manenti (1-32).

Beer’s resistance was ended as he was also out lbw, this time by Collins (2-46), at 249-9 before Collins then removed Jamie Thornely (six) to win the game for the Boars.

Horsham’s cricket manager Ed Clark praised Beer’s display but felt that they were ‘just one big partnership away’ from chasing down the total.

He said: “Overall, I’d say I was disappointed, but I think it was a pretty decent game of cricket and we gave a pretty reasonable account of ourselves.

“Will batted for the majority of the innings and was probably a couple of overs short of timing a really good run chase but he got out with three or four overs to go. He deserved a hundred but that’s not always the case.

“We probably left it a bit late in terms of not having enough wickets in hand to be able to be really aggressive in the last ten, 15 overs.

“I think we were just one big partnership away from being able to chase the score down.”