Home opener for Bexhill

The Polegrove-based outfit will kick-off the new season with a visit from Brighton & Hove on Saturday May 9.

Brighton finished fifth and Bexhill seventh last time out, and the league meetings between the two clubs ended with one win apiece.

Brighton triumphed by 111 runs at The Polegrove, but Bexhill got their own back with a seven-wicket victory in the return fixture thanks largely to five wickets from Ashar Zaidi and Shawn Johnson’s 74 not out.

Bexhill also won at home to Brighton en route to the semi-finals of the Gray-Nicolls Sussex T20 Cup.

Bexhill’s first away game is against Horsham - who finished third last year - seven days later, and that will be followed by successive matches against the two promoted sides. Billingshurst will travel to The Polegrove on May 23 and Bexhill will go to Middleton on May 30.

June will begin with back-to-back encounters against the Premier League’s top two in 2014. Bexhill will host Preston Nomads on June 6 before heading to reigning champions Roffey on June 13.

With Hastings Priory having been relegated, Bexhill’s only local derby will be against Eastbourne. The first meeting will be at The Polegrove on July 4 and the return match at The Saffrons will wrap up the summer on September 5.

The coming campaign will be the first time in well over a decade that Bexhill have spent a second straight season in the top flight having in the end comfortably stayed up last summer.

Bexhill’s 2015 Sussex Premier League fixtures: May 9 Brighton & Hove (h), May 16 Horsham (a), May 23 Billingshurst (h), May 30 Middleton (a), June 6 Preston Nomads (h), June 13 Roffey (a), June 20 Cuckfield (h), June 27 East Grinstead (a), July 4 Eastbourne (h), July 11 Brighton & Hove (a), July 18 Horsham (h), July 25 Billingshurst (a), August 1 Middleton (h), August 2 Sussex Development XI (h), August 8 Preston Nomads (a), August 15 Roffey (h), August 22 Cuckfield (a), August 29 East Grinstead (h), September 5 Eastbourne (a).