Sarisbury Athletic have been restored to the throne as the rightful kings of English sixes indoor cricket.

They blazed a Lord’s run storm to recapture the coveted ECB national title they won in 2015, setting a record cup final total of 170-3 before beating Kent Premier League club Broadstairs by 39 runs.

Sarisbury earlier piled up 151-2 in a one-sided 70-run semi-final victory over Norfolk Alliance League side Downham Town, writes Mike Vimpany.

“Our strength is our batting, we like to apply scoreboard pressure,” said skipper Matt Journeaux, who led his side to their Lord’s triumph despite a painful groin injury.

Barely able to run and later restricted to a two-pace run-up, the Sarisbury skipper launched a blistering back-wall six-hit assault on the Broadstairs bowlers as the local Southern Premier League club blitzed 24 runs off the final over.

Sarisbury’s batsmen merrily scored at 12 runs an over throughout, with openers Ricky Rawlins and Sam Floyd providing quick-fire platforms for Peter Hammond, Josh Hill and, in the final, Journeaux to effectively bat their opponents out of the game.

Broadstairs certainly made a decent fist of their cup final run chase and were starting to threaten at 102-1 before losing two wickets in the eighth over.

Isaac Wilkes, an exciting 15-year old Kent Academy prospect, underlined his talent by top scoring in both of Broadstairs’ matches, but ran out of partners in the final as the Kent Premier League side lost their last five wickets for 29 runs to be 131 all out.

Results – Semi-final Sarisbury Athletic 151-2 (Floyd 29*, Hammond 27*, Hill 27*, Rawlins 26) Downham Town 81 (Stuart 34, Hill 2-13, Freemantle 2-16) Sarisbury Athletic won by 70 runs.

ECB Final – Sarisbury Athletic 170-3 (Hammond 47*, Hill 31*, Journeaux 29*, Floyd 27, Rawlins 25) Broadstairs 131 (Dilkes 34, Fox 27, Hammond 2-14) Sarisbury Athletic won by 39 runs.