Horley Cricket Club round-up: Derham hits career best for firsts

Horley were put in on what looked like a used pitch that might cause problems. However, Derham and Ant Puttick were soon playing shots across the ground with relative ease and they put on an impressive 103 opening partnership. Some fine stroke-play and running between the wickets had put Horley in a strong position by the time Puttick was out for 32.

Nathan Baily walked in at three, and although the first ball looked like it had troubled him, the next four certainly didn’t as they were dispatched to the boundary.

Baily reached his 50 and Derham his 100 before Baily was out for 53 from 65 balls.

Derham, who had been struggling with a sore back, finally fell for 129 (including 19 fours) and in the following over Horley declared on 237-5 from 44.5 overs.

Horley chose to open their attack with spinner Adam Stephenson, with the old ball, and it almost paid off immediately, with a chance going down in the first over.

Ben Davies and Will Taylor then took over with the new ball and they didn’t disappoint, with Davies claiming a wicket in his first over.

Horley pushed hard and had Woodmansterne five down by drinks – two wickets each for Davies and Taylor and one for Charlie Robins – but although they tried various new options which put the hosts under pressure, the wicket seemed to be getting flatter and easier to bat on.

Horley kept pushing and with a few overs to go and the game walking toward a draw, Stephenson had number three Steve Cummings, who had been a thorn in Horley’s side throughout, caught by Derham.

The game then kicked back into life with Davies (4-38) coming on for a terrific spell, firstly picking up a wicket and then taking a catch very low to the ground with his left hand off Stephenson.

Horley played hard to get the win, but fell just short with Woodmansterne ending on 161-9.

Horley had to settle for ten points for a winning draw but still moved up to second in the table. Next Saturday they are at home against fourth-placed Alleyn.

An excellent innings of 71 not out from Richard Waddington, added to 68 from Matt Ware, helped take Horley 2nd XI to their sixth win of the season in Surrey County League 2nd XI Division One, beating struggling Wandgas by 47 runs.

Horley opted to bat and made a very slow start, reaching just 15-2 after ten overs with both openers gone cheaply. Waddington was moved down the order as he was suffering from a migraine, but while he rested, Matt Reid and Ware put on a partnership of 85 for the third wicket to get Horley moving.

When Reid fell for 30 in the 27th over, Waddington joined Ware. They batted well together until Ware fell for 68, including six fours and Horley were 133-4 with nine overs to go.

Waddington, who has been in fine form for several weeks now, took just 55 balls to make his 71 (six fours) and Andrew Reid also played a key role, scoring 28 from 27 balls. The duo made the most of every opportunity, scoring 34 runs in the last three overs, even running a five to a long boundary, and took Horley’s total to a decent 212-4 from 45 overs.

Wandgas made a fast start to their reply and were on 30 in the fifth over before strong-hitting Amir Chaudhry (24) was well caught by Alex Field off Robert Woodward. A second Woodward wicket soon followed, caught by Ollie Millard, and Trevor Stevens (2-25 from nine overs) picked up the next two, one stumped by Andrew Reid and one caught by Waddington.

Wandgas fell behind the scoring rate. They just survived some runout chances but Waddington struck with a direct hit to take the fifth wicket and Ware’s throw accounted for top-scorer Sarmad Butt (36). Skipper Andrew Thomas and Matt Reid picked up a wicket each, while Field (0-15 from seven overs) was unlucky not to get one.

Woodward returned in the final overs to pick up two more wickets, one superbly caught by a leaping Harry Grimwood and the last a sharp caught-and-bowled to end the Wandgas innings on 165 all out from 43.5 overs.

Horley 2nds, who are third in the table, are away to seventh-placed Warlingham next Saturday, looking for their fifth win in a row.

A return to bowling form was not enough for the Horley 3rd XI as they suffered their first loss at home to Roffey 4th XI in Sussex League Division 11 West (North).

On a sunny afternoon, Horley won the toss and inserted Roffey on a green wicket. Tight bowling and good energy in the field slowed Roffey's scoring as Darren Croft (2-36) accounted for the Roffey openers. From 70-2 at drinks, Roffey’s Tom Waters took the attack to the Horley bowlers, finishing on 75 caught behind by Dirk Douglas off Joe Wildman. After a calm runout from Sam Terry, Roffey were all out in the last over for 191 with Dan Sired (2-33) and Terry (2-17) both bowling well and Wildman (3-17) removing the tail.

Horley’s chase started very cautiously with the bad ball being picked off. However, Roffey’s bowling made it tough to score and only three Horley players managed to get into double figures, Khurram Jalil (10) and Naveed Sherwani (15) giving support to Douglas (33).

The last three wickets fell to a very fine hat-trick by Tom Waters (4-15) to leave Horley on 98 all out, two runs short of another batting point. It must be noted the game was played in great spirit between both teams and very well officiated by the Roffey umpire.

Horley now sit fifth in the table but are not too far short of the promotion places. They have work to do before next week’s trip to Steyning 3rd XI to get back to winning ways.

The Horley Development XI got their Surrey Trust League season off to a winning start, beating Merstham Development XI by 18 runs at Horley Row on Sunday.

Merstham put Horley in and they struggled to put together meaningful partnerships, with mis-timed shots leading to a succession of catches. Horley were 84-7 after the 16th over with 26 from Udith Molanguri their top score at that stage.

Skipper Matt Gainsford and Alex Field then put together a crucial stand of 85 for the eighth wicket, with Gainsford scoring the lion’s share of those runs, as he hit 60 from 47 balls, including eight fours and a six, before he was caught at slip.

Field was the last man to fall, caught on 14 as Horley were bowled out for 171 in 29.2 overs.

A runout from Molanguri gave Horley an early breakthrough in Merstham’s reply but Ed Loader took the attack to the bowlers, clobbering five fours in an innings of 26 from 23 balls before Gainsford switched ends and had him well caught by Adam Stephenson. Gainsford took another wicket in the same over, then Dan Sired from the under-14s joined the attack and took two wickets in a terrific spell of five overs which went for just seven runs. He helped reduce Merstham to 53-5 after 15 overs but then the visitors rallied, with Fin Willsher and Asfar Khan both getting into the 20s.

Molanguri had a hand in both their dismissals, taking a great catch off Ryan Bunn’s bowling to remove Willsher and then having Khan stumped by Harry Grimwood.

George Hyde picked up a wicket, caught by Grimwood, and when Max Yates was caught by Gainsford off Molanguri, Merstham were 116-9 with four overs to go and looked to have no chance of overhauling Horley.

However, number nine Charan Chintakunta had other ideas and proceeded to batter 37 off 22 balls, including three sixes and four fours. Merstham were suddenly back in the hunt, needing 25 from the last two overs, but Field restricted them to six from the 39th over and the pressure told and Chintakunta was bowled by Gainsford (3-26) from the second ball of the final over, with the score on 153.