Archer returns as Horsham shock leaders Roffey in long-awaited win

The victory extends Horsham’s unbeaten run to six games in the Premier Division whilst also handing Roffey their first defeat of the season.

The hosts elected to bat first and posted a formidable 314-6 off 58 overs, thanks to a topscore of 84 from Will Beer along with contributions from Tom Clark (56), Tom Johnson (33), Thornely (51) and George Garton (54*).

In reply, Roffey were all out for 143 off 46 overs, with wicketkeeper captain Matt Davies (41) topscoring.

They found the going tough against Sussex stars Jofra Archer (4-32), who was playing his first game of the season for the Lions, and Garton (4-32).

Archer’s dramatic rise from Horsham to million-dollar man in IPL

Thornely was delighted that his side had finally got the better of their rivals and was pleased with their manner of victory.

He said: “It’s been a long time since we’ve beaten Roffey and to do it in that fashion was very pleasing to see. It was lucky that this weekend we had a lot of our Sussex players available.

“It was just coincidence that Sussex have had quite a few weeks with not many games so it was a little bit of a luxury to have all these players available to coincide with our local derby.

“Roffey have come out on top in recent years so it was good to change that this year and just play well on the day with a strong team.”

The captain went on to praise individual performances and relishing the luxury of having Archer and Garton in their bowling attack. He added: “We’re missing Craig Gallagher and Tom Haines so it was great to have Tom Clark back and he’s becoming a very impressive young batsmen.

“Tom Johnson, fresh off his double hundred for the twos a few weeks ago, is a changed man. He’s very high in confidence and playing well so him and Tom Clark got us off to a good start.

“We had a great start then Beero managed the innings very well along with Tom Clark, they put on a very nice partnership. Myself and Beero managed to get another nice partnership together but unfortunately Jofra didn’t come off but more than made up for it with the ball.

“George played an excellent innings at the end with some real strong power hitting and we were really able to make the most of the last few overs and get us over the 300 which made it a tougher chase against our bowling attack.

“It was a luxury to have two blokes that can bowl mid-80s in a club game so that isn’t something you see often in club cricket.

“Jofra and Garts set the tone really well and we knew once we got three, four wickets down that the run chase was going to be really difficult.

“We had to work hard for it and Roffey started to believe they could hold out but it was great commitment from Jofra and Garts to keep running in a putting the balls in the right area and making the batsmen work hard for every ball.

Reaction from the Roffey camp will appear later today.