Horley fall to agonising league defeat

Horley put Merstham in and bowled them out for 196 in 43 overs, with Ben Davies, Charlie Robins, Jordan Robins and Adam Stephenson taking two wickets each, Jon Barnett one and Ben Remfry grabbing a runout.

Regan Derham and Anthony Puttick both made 34 in Horley’s reply, Davies got 33 and Sam Remfry 28, but a lower-middle-order collapse put Horley on the back foot and they were bowled out for 192 after 44 overs.

HORLEY CC 2ND XI

Horley CC 2nd XI were beaten by 36 runs in their Surrey County League 2nd XI Premier Division match at Putney.

On a slow, low-bouncing pitch, batting was difficult and while Horley’s bowlers had a good day, bowling out the hosts for 142 in 44.3 overs, the batters could only make 106 in reply.

Horley put Putney in and started the game with only eight players as three were lost in south London.

They didn’t have a full complement of 11 until past the 20-over mark, but excellent tight opening spells from Kashif Naveed and Trevor Stevens still kept the run-rate below three an over.

Darren Croft was the star bowler when he joined the attack later on, starting with a double-wicket maiden and ending up with figures of 8.3-3-3-19.

Naveed took 3-23 from his nine overs, finishing with a wicket maiden, and Alex Field took 2-21, the 16-year-old’s first wickets for the 2nd XI.

There was one wicket each for Stevens and Aryan Patel and good catches were held by Andrew Thomas (three), Naveed (two) and Stevens and Patel.

Horley were hopeful of chasing down the total but found batting very tough. Some batters were out to rash shots, but others just struggled with the timing on the difficult pitch.

Patel top-scored with a patient 29 not out but no one else reached 20.

Late in the innings, number 11 batsman and skipper Croft brought a smile to Horley faces with a terrific reverse-sweep for four, but defeat was already a certainty by then.

HORLEY CC 3RD XI

After two washouts, Horley CC 3rd XI resumed their winning form beating the Whiteley Village CC 2nd XI by 39 runs.

Hold-ups on the M25 caused half of the Horley team to arrive after the start time but the six that were there sensibly agreed with the opposition to bat first on a green wicket.

Against some thrifty bowling, Horley found scoring tough. Wickets fell all around the stoic Khurram Syedzada Jalil (25) and drinks were taken with the score on 60-5.

Danny Patel (20) and Alex Rooney (23) were the only other Horley players to get past the teens, however it was important Horley used every ball of their 45 overs to post 128-9.

Whiteley Village set about chasing a seemingly low target, but a tight opening spell from Jorell Wildman and Jack Jee saw three wickets fall inside eight overs and suddenly the game opened up.

Callum Tester then picked up 3-16 from five overs and Rooney a brace, one being a sharp catch at the stumps by Ryan Bunn, to really swing the game in Horley's favour.

Hard work in the field was highlighted by good catches and capped off by a direct hit from Luke Smith to snuff out the last wicket and hand Horley the win by 39 runs in the 20th over.

HORLEY CC LADIES

Horley CC Ladies Hadadas were beaten by Outwood CC Blazes in the Surrey Slam 20/20.

Horley were put in to bat and struggled to score off very strong bowling from Outwood. Cheryl Douglas top-scored in their total of 69-5 with a watchful 14 in 34 balls.

In reply, Outwood got to grips with Horley's bowling with Tina Howard leading the way with an unbeaten 29 of 30 balls to bring Outwood home within ten overs.

It was a debut match for Horley’s Adaline Smith, a player new to cricket, who fielded strongly and looks a promising bowler in the making.

HORLEY CC SUNDAY XI

Horley CC Sunday XI snatched a 12-run win off the penultimate ball of their match at Cuckfield CC, with Alex Field taking his first-ever five-wicket haul and Guy Derham hitting a half-century.

Horley made 235-7 declared in 40 overs. Derham retired after reaching 51 from 48 balls, including nine fours.

Dirk Douglas made 37 from 31 balls, Jack Poplett 33 from 37 balls and George Hyde 32 from 23 balls, while Ryan Bunn chipped in with a useful 21 late on.

Cuckfield had to chase 236 off 40 overs with only ten batters as they were a player short.

Opener Sammy Hart was their star, falling just short of his maiden century as he was bowled by Field for 95, having been called back by the umpire much earlier in his knock, after starting to walk for what looked like a gulley catch.

Field took two early wickets, then three more in his second spell, when he and Derham combined to take Cuckfield from 200-4 to 223-9 in the space of the last six overs, with Derham taking the final wicket with just a single ball to spare.

Field’s figures were 8-1-5-38, Derham took 2-20 from 3.5 overs, while Dave Childs and Bunn took a wicket each.

HORLEY CC UNDER-9s

Horley CC under-9s notched up a big 83-run win over Lingfield CC under-9s in the Surrey Junior Cricket Championship.

Horley’s bowlers kept it tight with Jake Benjamin and Max Wildman picking up three wickets apiece.

There was great fielding too with Naomi Hamilton effecting two runouts and Tom Romanzin picking up a wicket.

Aditya Gupta and Zach O'Donnell batted well, both getting into the teens, in helping Lingfield post a net score of 234 in their 16 overs.

Horley's reply started well with Nathan Harding scoring 28 early on. The Horley batsmen all got in on the act, especially with some good running between the wickets.

Wildman scored 29 later on, including two sixes as they finished on net 317.

This win sets up a top of the table clash for Horley against Salfords CC next weekend.