Steyning made the perfect start in their bid to win promotion back to division two at the first attempt.

The returning David Curtis-Botting led the way with an unbeaten 72 as relegated Steyning opened their division three west season with an emphatic nine-wicket win at Henfield.

Skipper Tim Humphries said: “We weren’t quite sure what the standard was going to be in this division and it takes the pressure off a bit getting a win under our belts straightaway.

“We were worried if we had gone three or four games without a win the pressure may have built after not winning many games last year so this was a perfect start.

“Our target is promotion, that is what we play the game for. We want to win this league and go straight back up.”

Humphries knows they will have to work hard to achieve that, particularly after losing some key players from last season including leading wicket taker Ian Simpson to Haywards Heath and Owen Jones to St James.

Curtis-Botting, who used to play for Steyning, is one of the new faces and he put on an unbroken stand of 128 with opener Simon McNiff (42 not out) to lead them to victory. Earlier, Andy Isaacs took 3-14 and Dave Mates 3-36 as Henfield were restricted to 128-9.

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