Horley's promotion hopes hang in the balance after defeat

Horley put Battersea in and two early wickets for Ben Davies and one for Charlie Robins had the visitors in trouble at 38-3.

However, the visitors then put together a partnership of 120 for the fourth wicket and ended up posting a challenging total of 210 all out from 44.2 overs.

Davies took 4-45 from nine overs, Robins 2-19, Adam Stephenson 2-34 and Phil Norman grabbed a caught and bowled, while Matt Gainsford got a run out.

Horley lost Regan Derham early in their reply and no batter got beyond the 20s in the total of 143 all out.

Guy Derham and Nathan Baily both made 22 and Gainsford 20, but it was a disappointing day for Horley.

The defeat leaves Horley in third place in the table with 228 points.

Above them in the two promotion spots, London Gymkhana CC have 247 and Battersea 241, so Horley need to win at Lingfield CC in their final match this Saturday and hope Battersea somehow slip up against bottom-of-the-table Chaldon CC.

HORLEY CC 2ND XI

Horley CC 2nd XI remain in deep relegation trouble in the Surrey County League 2nd XI Premier Division after a 131-run defeat at Staines & Laleham CC.

On a day when they really needed a win after a run of poor results, a host of senior players were unavailable due to work and other commitments which left Horley fielding four 2nd XI debutants, including three from the under-13s team.

Staines were inserted after skipper Darren Croft won the toss. Initially Horley contained the home side but a third-wicket partnership started to take the game away.

Matt Puttick, Trevor Stevens and Luke Smith all managed a wicket, however the bowling honours went to under-13s player Aidan Spalding who bowled an excellent length to take 4-44 in his seven overs.

The other under-13s, Ollie Millard and Khyan Patel, took a catch each, while 15-year-old wicket keeper Harry Grimwood got a stumping and a catch and 16-year-old Alex Field took two catches.

Staines ended up with 208 from their 45 overs and that total proved to be too much of a challenge for Horley as they lost wickets at regular intervals and never established any meaningful partnerships.

Seven of their batsmen were bowled. Grimwood top-scored with 23, Croft made 14 batting at 11 and again Spalding was prominent, managing nine not out off 47 balls.

With only one match to play, Horley are second from bottom in the table, 19 points behind nearest rivals Southern Rail & Kenley CC, so a drop back down to Division One after last season’s promotion to the Premier level looks almost certain.

HORLEY CC DEVELOPMENT XI

Horley CC Development XI are through to the semi-finals of the Surrey Trust League Tier Two as undefeated group winners after a six-wicket victory at Merstham CC.

Horley put Merstham in and Khyan Patel bowled a good opening spell of 1-29 from seven overs, but Alvin Sathya and Daniel Kite put on 120 for the second wicket to put the hosts in a strong position.

Both of them fell to Luke Smith (2-18), with Sathya on 91 when he was bowled, and from there Horley picked up regular wickets and reined in the scoring rate, with Merstham finishing on 215-9 from their 40 overs.

Davies took 2-34 and there was a wicket apiece for Alex Field, Udith Molanguri, Ollie Millard and Richard Waddington, with Field holding on to a steepling catch and Smith taking two catches.

The backbone of Horley’s reply was a tremendous second-wicket partnership of 149 between Molanguri and Waddington.

Both played a lovely variety of shots and paced their innings well, with Waddington falling on 54 from 65 balls and Molanguri being caught on 91 from 95 balls when Horley were on 215.

Two balls later Ryan Bunn was run out trying to complete the winning run and Danny Patel then clubbed his first ball for four to take Horley to 219-4 in the 34th over to secure the win.

Horley’s semi-final opponents are Hampton Wick CC, who play their senior league cricket several divisions above Horley, so it will be a tough test.

HORLEY CC UNDER-11s

Horley CC under-11s played their first Sussex Festival and got their week off to a flying start against Ifield CC.

Ifield chose to bat and Achilles Pereira took the first and last wickets of the innings, while Lucas Lafon Anderson, Tom Jowett and Charlie George all took a wicket each.

The star of the game, however, was Naomi Hamilton who took five wickets for nine runs from her four overs and Horley – well captained by Oscar Millard - bowled Ifield out for 50 in 19.3 overs.

Horley chased down the target with ease, helped by an excellent 30-run partnership from Henrick Cook, who made 25, and Ollie Kilborn.

Jowett, Lafon Anderson and Hamilton all contributed towards the total and George hit a four to bring Horley to victory at 52-4 in 11.4 overs.

Unfortunately, Horley were unable to raise a team to play Three Bridges CC in their next match, then lost to Bells Yew Green CC by six wickets and were pipped at the post by just three runs at Lingfield.

Henrick Cook got 27 in a total of 113 all out against Bells, while Coby Warren took 2-9 in the reply and there was one wicket each for Spalding and Jowett.

Horley bowled Lingfield CC out for 75 with Pereira taking 3-17, George and Millard taking two wickets each and Spalding, Henrick Cook and Sebastian Cook one apiece.

George top-scored with 31 in reply but Horley were bowled out for 72.