Roffey not 'quite as good as they hoped' in Brighton & Hove victory

The hosts won the toss and elected to bat and were all out for 235 off 47.3 overs thanks to a sparkling 121 from Matt Machan.

The Boars’ Alex Collins was rampant with the ball, finishing with 5-38.

In reply Roffey hit 237-6 off 48.2 overs thanks to Theo Rivers (48) and Ben Manenti’s (68) 125-run first-wicket partnership, and Davies (56*) and Josh Fleming‘s (34) 89-run fifth-wicket stand.

The Boars captain said: “I think we’d all admit that our performance wasn’t quite as good as we hoped it would be.

“Collo (Collins) came on and took five wickets at a crucial time. He really helped in keeping Brighton down to a total that we could chase.

“There were times where we were under the cosh but it was nice to come through with a win which is important at the start of the season.

“I was pleased with the batting but we’ve got a little bit of work to do with the ball.”

The Boars reduced Brighton to 13-2, thanks to Leigh Harrison (1-12) and Rohit Jagota (1-24), but Delray Rawlins (40) and Machan added 60 for the third-wicket before Rawlins was taken by George Fleming (2-34).

But the irresistible Machan and Brighton captain Simon Heatherton (39) forged a 127-run fifth-wicket knock to push the hosts to 214-5.

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Collins produced a devastating display with the ball to claim his five-for and reduce Roffey’s target.

The Boars reply started brightly thanks to Rivers and Manenti but the Roffey duo fell in quick succession to Chris Mates (2-38) and Heatherton (2-48).

Jagota (duck) and Mike Norris (one) were soon to follow as the Boars slumped from 125-1 to 132-4.

But Davies and Josh Fleming’s partnership steadied the ship and put Roffey on course for the win.

The Flemings, Josh and George (two), did lose their wickets but Davies and Harrison (three) carried the Boars home to victory,

Davies added: “We knew that we needed two partnerships to chase down a total of just above 200.

“Theo and Ben got us off to a good start and then we struggled a bit. Luckily Josh and I were able to put on another big partnership to get us close to the total.

“They weren’t too many bad dismissals but it was nice after our wobble that we were still able to get over the line.”

Roffey host Mayfield on Saturday.