Dan Smith earns Roffey a dramatic win over Worthing

Dan Smith was the hero for Roffey with a six off the penultimate ball of the game and then a two off the last delivery as the hosts hit the 15 runs they needed off the very last over to win a match which could have gone either way throughout.

Worthing, put into bat were bowled out for 228 in their last over with Michael Gould smashing a rapid 63 off 54 balls and Matt Green a more patient 46 in a first wicket stand of 103.

When Gould was caught in the deep going for his fifth big six of the match it signalled a batting collapse and the slow bowling of Rohit Jagota yielded him 7-58 as Worthing went from 141-2 to 188-7. Nick Bellamy added a late 26 as Worthing set a near par total.

Roffey had so far failed to hit 200 in their first three completed matches and several batsmen got starts before losing their wickets, including Craig Williams (27), Aaron Jeal (15), Josh Fleming (20) and Jagota, who looked set to knock off the winning runs when he fell to a brilliant Gould catch on 36.

When George Fleming was stumped for 33 in the 48th over Roffey were 191-7 and their chances of victory were further hit when Adbul Khan was run out in the 51st over.

Needing 22 from the final two overs though and then 15 from the last six balls, Smith went for broke and timed his unbeaten 49 to perfection with Matt Varner hitting an important four at the other end as a large Roffey crowd were handed a rousing finish.

The following day on the same ground was less successful as Roffey crashed out of the ECB National Club Championship with a narrow five-run defeat to Havant.

Reports and reaction to both matches in Thursday’s West Sussex County Times.