CRICKET: Team Priory Find a Higher Gear
1 August: Hastings & St Leonards Priory 231 for 8; Middleton 184 all out
8 August: Roffey 244 for 6; Priory 201 for 7
HUGH SULLIVAN
Shawn Johnson bowling against Roffey
August has proved a more than satisfactory month so far for the cricketers of Hastings & St Leonards Priory, achieving an outstanding victory and then an honourable draw on successive Saturdays against the two leading teams in the Sussex Premier League, Middleton and Roffey. Priory remain eighth in the table, only ten points above the relegation places. But with their bowling attack revving at a higher gear than earlier in the season, and their batsmen showing resilience in depth, they should approach the final four games with confidence – to be played under limited-over format, each to be won or lost (no draws).
At Middleton on 1 August, Priory batted first and were indebted to opener Alfie Hunter, who made 86 while his top order partners came and went. When he departed, with the score at 159 for six in the 47th over, a more brittle side might have folded. But Ryan Hoadley, playing his first game of the season, hit a bright 34 off 33 balls and, with help from Eddie Finch (18) and Freddie Hulbert (21 not out), boosted the 58-over innings total to 231 for 8.
A similar Priory score had been chased down the week before by opponents Haywards Heath for the loss of only three wickets. But on this occasion the Hastings side bowled and fielded superbly, Shawn Johnson leading the way by running out Middleton’s opener Toby Barton in the first over before he had received a ball. Adam Barton (no relation), sharing Priory’s seam attack with Hulbert, injured himself in his third over and could not continue. But Johnson was a lively replacement, taking two wickets apiece with Hulbert so as to reduce the home side to 86 for five.
Spinners Adam Page and Hunter were introduced, and at first struggled to contain a potential batting recovery. But Page had the dangerous Sean Heather caught by Johnson for 52, and wickets continued to fall. Credit to the Middleton tail for attempting to keep up their faltering chase, but Page nailed the final batsman lbw to close out a 47-run victory.
Last Saturday Roffey, who had taken advantage of that result to overtake Middleton as league leaders, came to Horntye. Winning the toss and opting to bat, they started cautiously against the seam bowling of Hulbert and Johnson, then found themselves unable to accelerate as they would have liked against the Priory spinners Hunter, Page and Barton (recovered sufficiently to bowl off his shortened run). But a final spurt over the last seven overs, which yielded 57 runs, eventually secured a challenging total of 244.
In reply, Priory also batted cautiously. Hunter (22) and Joe Billings (56) gave them a solid start, and Scowen (53) held the middle order together, but they were always behind the required run rate, and when Scowen was sixth out with 69 still needed and less than six overs left, the remaining batsmen chose to see them out judiciously rather than go down with all guns blazing.
Tomorrow (Saturday) Priory host bottom-of-the-league Bognor Regis at Horntye. Another win would hugely improve their chances of Premier League survival.
Sussex Cricket League – PREMIER TABLE (bottom 4) as at 9 August 2026
| P | W | D | L | A | Bat | Bowl | Pts | |
| Horsham | 14 | 4 | 3 | 6 | 1 | 50 | 29 | 216 |
| Hastings & St Leonards Priory | 14 | 3 | 4 | 6 | 1 | 60 | 48 | 215 |
| Cuckfield | 14 | 3 | 2 | 8 | 1 | 60 | 43 | 205 |
| Bognor Regis | 14 | 3 | 3 | 7 | 1 | 54 | 37 | 198 |
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