Bulverhythe Cricket Club has withdrawn from the East Sussex Cricket League - but hasn't ruled out returning next year.
The Division Seven outfit, who played their home matches at Tilekiln, have called it a day due to a lack of players.
Chairman Keith Oakman, a Bulverhythe player since the early 1980s, said: "It's a shame because we had been going for some years no
w, but we just couldn't attract any players."
It's all a far cry from several years ago when the club was crowned champions of Division Eight and Division Seven in successive seasons, and won promotion from Division Six a year later.
But all of a sudden, players began to retire through age or injury and couldn't be replaced, resulting in consecutive relegations and Bulverhythe returning to Division Seven for 2009.
The possibility of folding was discussed at committee level during the winter, but the club decided to keep going in the belief that a sufficient pool of players was in place.
Bulverhythe actually began the season well, amassing 256-3 in their opening day draw with Battle II. Back-to-back defeats followed, though, and they conceded their three games after that.
The club informed the league of its withdrawal last week and a decision on what should happen to points gained against them will be made by the league's committee.
"We seemed to have quite a few players available at the start," continued Oakman, "but because we didn't start too well, two or three jumped ship and we got a couple of serious injuries, and we were down to the bare bones.
"But we're going to hopefully try and re-form for next season. If we can recruit over the winter period, we would possibly start playing again. We've got enough committee behind us, it's just getting 11 players out each week."
As if to rub salt into the wound, since they played their last home game back in May, Bulverhythe have had some kit stolen after the Tilekiln changing rooms, in which the kit was stored, were broken into.
