The West Sussex Cricket League ( formerly known as The Sussex Championship League) was founded in 1975 when League Fever swept the South East of England to replace the friendly cricket which had occurred for up to two hundred years. Many clubs joined with others from localised areas as traditional fixtures were decimated either by previous opponents perhaps from across a County boundary joining their respective County leagues or by joining leagues within the County.

The Sussex Championship primarily supported by clubs from the West of Sussex was soon affected by the creation of The Sussex Invitation Cricket League which was formed in 1977. Original member clubs of this League created a more exclusive environment which concentrated on a combination of playing strength and good facilities and membership was by Invitation and designed to maintain its exclusive membership. During the 1980’s and early 1990’s The Sussex Invitation Cricket League continued to attract new members often from The Sussex Championship League. This process culminated in 1995 when the Sussex Invitation League established a Second Division and invited a further half a dozen clubs from the Sussex Championship to join this new structure.

Meanwhile many junior clubs with only one team were finding it increasingly difficult to find friendly fixtures on a Saturday and a steady number of these were applying to join the second division of the Sussex Championship. During 1996 discussions took place between The Print Machine Village League as their numbers were to be reduced for the 1997 season, with some of their clubs joining Second Division of The Sussex Invitation League. The remainder of their clubs joined The Sussex Championship and the combined league was re-named as the West Sussex Cricket League to reflect the more junior status of this overall league.

Following the discussions between the two sets of league officials, clubs were placed into their respective divisions for the 1997 season. Chichester Priory Park 3rd XI won the 1st Division of the re-named West Sussex Cricket League holding off the challenge of Selsey 1st XI whilst the 2nd Division was won by Horsham 3A XI with Brighton & Hove 3rd XI finishing second.

The autumn of 1997 saw an approach from the Oxbridge Central Sussex League to the WSCL to consider whether the two leagues could be merged. Thanks in no small measure to the co-operation of both sets of League officials the discussions proved so successful that the two Leagues were amalgamated in time for the 1998 season under the auspice of the WSCL.

Following this merger West Sussex Cricket League provided the perfect input at junior level to the pyramid structure envisaged by the England and Wales Cricket Board for the future. However at the next level upwards the Sussex Invitation League was unwilling to surrender their concept of invitation although keen for their clubs to be considered for entrance to the Sussex League at the top of the pyramid.

The new enlarged structure for the 1998 season boasted 3 divisions totalling 38 clubs and 48 teams. The 1st Division was won by Horsham 3rd XI with Selsey 1st XI in second place. The 2nd Division winners were Patcham, for whom John Knight showed impressive batting form throughout the season, with Hove Medina as runners-up. 3rd Division winners were Brighton Electricity, whilst Lower Beeding finished second.

This was a summer blessed by excellent weather and a very exciting 1st Division competition which was decided on the last Saturday of the season when Crawley Eagles beat the Lamb 1st XI by 4 wickets and Horsham 3rd XI needing 169 runs to win the league in their game against St. Matthias were dismissed for 160 runs and thereby failing by just 8 runs to ensure a second successive league title. Crawley Eagles the most consistent team in the division had won 15 of their 17 matches and were worthy winners of our senior division. If Crawley Eagles were the team of 1999 there could be little doubt that Horsham 3rd XI’s Overseas star Richard Croxford was the Player of the Year as his batting performances were quite outstanding. In the Horsham fixture against Three Bridges he made 177 in under 30 overs whilst at the crease including hitting 15 sixes.

The 2nd Division was won by Dome Mission who managed 11 wins from their 14 matches and their all round teamwork was emphasised by them winning by over 30 points from runners up Palmer’s who also recorded 11 wins from 14 matches both teams have deserved their promotion to Division 1 for next season.

The 3rd Division was won by Aldwick with 12 wins from their 14 matches and a narrow 6 point margin from runners up Amberley who also won 12 times in 14 matches. The two clubs who earned automatic promotion to Division 2 have been joined in promotion by the teams who finished in third and fourth places respectively, Shoreham and West Chilington as the League has attracted six new teams for the 2000 season namely Preston Park, Ram, Steyning 3rd XI, Billinghurst 2nd XI, Crawley Eagles 2nd XI and West Blachington 2nd XI.

WSCL officials continue to meet from time to time with the Sussex Invitation League representatives to discuss how to implement the pyramid structure envisaged by the E.C.B., but despite the ceaseless efforts of their Chairman, Geoffrey Longfield, progress is painfully slow and perhaps is best illustrated by the fact that their 1998 A.G.M. overthrew the recommendation of their management committee to invite Horsham 3rd XI winners of Divison 1 in 1998 and Horsham 3A XI to join the SIL for the 1999 season, by an overwhelming margin, not on the reasonable premise of either that they were not good enough or that their facilities were not of sufficient standard (both of these would have been completely untrue) but because their were the 3rd and 4th XI’s of Horsham and they did not wish to change their rules of membership which states that membership shall be confined to the 1st and 2nd XI’s.

Perhaps typically they then invited Broadbridge Heath who finished 12th in Division 1 to join the SIL for the 1999 season, an invitation which not surprisingly was immediately accepted.

Selsey, who have performed consistently well over the last few seasons in the WSCL have been invited by the SIL to join their Division 2 for the 2000 season and we wish them every success, confident that they will give a good account of themselves.