Horley are Surrey Trust Tier Two champions

The match was played at Merstham, where the pitch proved to be a bit of a minefield, with some deliveries rearing up and others staying low, and puffs of dust coming up off the surface from the outset. The fact that man-of-the-match Manny Johns’ 33 was the top score by either side shows just how tough batting was.

On a scorching day, Horley opted to bat first. Udith Molanguri struck three good early boundaries and Ben Stewart hit two before he was bowled in the sixth over. Molanguri followed next over, caught and bowled for 15 and that brought Johns and Ben Davies together for a crucial third-wicket partnership of 56.

Trinity thought Davies had been caught behind but the umpire agreed that the ball had not carried. However, the Horley all-rounder was out soon afterwards for 24 from 50 balls.

From 87-3 at drinks, Horley battled on with Johns having partnerships of 20-plus with Aryan Patel and Richard Waddington.

Skipper Jon Barnett fell with the score on 140, and Artie Hoskins was immediately hit on the chin and retired hurt for some running repairs. Johns was finally out in the 36th over, having batted for 117 minutes and faced 71 balls, including one from a spinner which bounced up at head height.

Dan Sired added ten to the score before he was bowled, Hoskins returned but was soon out and Irfaan Baksh was run out off the last ball as Horley struggled to 167 all out from their 40 overs. The total included 44 extras.

Trinity set off well in reply, but in the third over Sired had Zac Burt caught and bowled, making the score 24-1.

Baksh, who had been rubbing his hands at the idea of bowling his spin on this pitch, beat the bat three times in the next over before bowling the other opener, Harish Rajkumar, and his wicket-maiden was followed by a maiden for Sired and another for Baksh.

Trinity were 36-2 at the end of the eight-over power play. Davies joined the attack and bowled Sam Godfrey, but seven overs then passed without a wicket falling as the score moved on to 72, including some streaky shots and snicks which didn’t go to hand. Wicketkeeper Hoskins was twice hit on the helmet but passed the concussion checks and battled on bravely in very difficult circumstances.

Barnett got the breakthrough with the first ball of the 17th over, bowling Micah Thomas for nine but Kanishk Srivastava batted on for five more overs until Hofmann had him caught in the deep by Sired for 31.

Trinity were 95-5 and the game was definitely in the balance, and five penalty runs were added to the score when Molanguri was outside the boundary rope when the ball was bowled.

Hofmann struck again with the last ball of the 26th over, Patel taking the catch, and Molanguri trapped skipper Roshan Malhotra lbw in the next over. Horley scented victory at this stage, with the score 113-7, but there was work still to do and Trinity added 19 runs before Davies came back on and bowled Aman Khera.

Two overs later, Barnett snaffled a slip catch off Molanguri to make it 136-9 in the 33rd over and Davies had the number 11 lbw from the first ball for the 36th over to close the innings on 145 and wrap up the win.

Having lost to Trinity in a couple of previous finals in the last decade, Horley were delighted to reclaim the trophy, which they last won in 2022.