Bognor scrape survival as Horsham win thriller at Hastings

A frustrating washout at East Grinstead meant Bognor spent the final day of the league season nervously refreshing the scorecard from Horntye Park, where rivals for relegation Hastings needed to beat second-placed Horsham to guarantee survival. After scraping 165, Hastings reduced Horsham to 154-9, before George Briance and Ollie Avinou took 9 runs off the final over to win the game and relegate the home side.

On the other side of Sussex, Bognor celebrated in dramatic style as the news filtered through. Relegation would have been a disappointing end to a tough season, although Hastings can feel slightly aggreived about their finishing position, having won six matches to Bognor's five. In the end, brilliant early-season wins against Cuckfield, Middleton and Worthing, and a comeback win for the ages against Roffey in August secured Bognor's place in the Premier League for 2025. Had Hastings got over the line, Bognor would have been left rueing a calamitous performance against their rivals last week, as well as shambolic collapses against East Grinstead and Three Bridges earlier in the season, when victory looked assured in each game. However, Bognor can now look ahead to another season of Premier League cricket, and with some new personnel on the way, the club will be a hopeful of a less nerve-wracking season.

Captain Ryan Maskell was the undoubted start of the summer for Bognor, with 653 runs at 50.23, whilst Oliver Dabinett-Jays scored 404 at 36.73 in an excellent debut Premier League campaign. Aditya Rane took 33 wickets at 22.09, whilst Mike Harris took 20 wickets at 24 to go with 324 runs in a solid all-round season. Theo Beynon-Ayres had a great year in his first season at Bognor, with 322 runs and 12 wickets. Bognor's focus for the winter will be the additions of a couple of new faces, and development of an exciting core of young players, to push further up the table in 2025.