Horley Cricket Club round-up: Stalwart Andrew recognised as unsung hero

Derham was nominated for the award by Horley club chairman Colin Terry, who said ‘Andy’s relentless hard work is the foundation of our club’s success and I am delighted it has been rewarded by Surrey.’

Derham was only told about the nomination a couple of weeks before the awards lunch and he said: ‘When I read the other shortlisted write-ups I thought I had no chance. When my name got called out, for a moment thought I may have mis-heard. I realised I had not prepared any kind of acceptance speech, so I winged it and thanked the people who nominated me and my wife for letting me do the stuff at the club which all goes towards getting HCC on the map.’

Back in 2008, Derham started managing his elder son Regan’s junior team at Horley, then co-managed younger son Guy’s team too, taking both sides through to under-18s. He then took on the management of the club’s development XI, with his duties including doing the scoring and washing the kit. He stepped down from that role at the start of 2021 but not before he had helped bring 10 former juniors into the club’s current men’s first XI.

He has been the first team’s scorer for the past four years, and has also run the men’s T20 Slam team since its creation.

Derham’s other duties include organising and ordering kit for all the club’s teams, and he plays a key role in ground maintenance, repairing sight screens and covers and anything else which needs fixing. ‘He always comes up with innovative ideas to fix things and keep costs down. No task is too big or too small,’ says Terry.

He also played a key role in the mammoth fundraising effort which enabled Horley to open a new £58,000 all-weather net facility this year, organising raffles and other fund-raising events.

In their nomination statement for the Unsung Hero Award, sponsored by Spond, Horley said ‘His tireless energy combined with his wicked sense of humour has shaped Horley Cricket Club into what it is today.’

Horley Hackers booked their place in the Sussex Slam T20 Finals Day by easing to a 38-run win over Roffey Boars in Sunday’s regional final at Horsham.

A quickfire 53 (retired) from just 19 balls by Horley skipper Jordan Robins set Horley on the way to a good total of 170-7 from 20 overs. Robins hit three sixes and six fours before retiring in the 10th over. Ben Davies also reached the retirement mark of 50 (46 balls) and Matt Gainsford made a handy 31 off 17 balls at the end of the innings.

Two players better known for their batting, Nathan Baily and Regan Derham, took the first three Roffey wickets between them as competition rules stop Horley’s first-team bowlers from appearing before the ninth over.

After 14 overs Roffey were 92-3 and Charlie Robins took a wicket in the next over, leaving Roffey needing 67 from the last five overs. Between them, Derham, Gainsford and Davies restricted the scoring to just 28, with the latter two taking a wicket apiece and Horley strolled to victory.

Sussex’s four regional champions will contest Finals Day at Horsham CC on Monday, 29 August, when semi-finals and a final will be played. Horley will play Findon and the other semi-final will be contested by St Andrew’s (Burgess Hill) and Hailsham.

A great all round performance from the Horley 3rd XI saw them win away against Warnham in the Sussex League Division 11 West (North).

Horley chose to bat first and after losing an early wicket, a second wicket partnership of 89 between Rob Rigby and Bailey Warren meant Horley were 103-2 after 18 overs.

A mini collapse saw the next five wickets put on 45 runs then a pacey partnership of 41 off 45 balls between Stewart Warren and Darren Croft got Horley to 189-8 with just over four overs to go.

Another quick wicket fell before a classic last wicket partnership involving Croft and skipper Joe Wildman added 21 runs off 24 balls to finish the Horley innings on 210-9. Rigby's 67 off 79 balls was the stand-out innings and Keiron Bellamy (4-42 off nine) was the pick of the Warnham bowlers with his devastating leg-spin.

Horley’s defence got off to a flying start. Wildman took a wicket with only the second ball, then the wily Croft took one in his first over, soon followed by two more. Stewart Warren chipped in with two more quick wickets then Croft (4-21 off nine) struck again leaving Warnham with an uphill task on 36-7 after 10 overs.

Tight fielding put added pressure on the batters, with nothing getting past Artie Hoskins on the boundary.

A very good lower order partnership of 92 followed and the Horley skipper tried different bowling combinations to break the developing stand.

The mother and son combination of Martha and Aidan Spalding did the trick, with Martha bowling a tight line to become the first woman to take a wicket for Horley 3rds.

David Hyde made the next breakthrough when the batsmen charged him and missed and was stumped by Dirk Douglas, who took 3 catches and two stumpings in the innings. Aidan Spalding took the last wicket in the next over and Warnham were 158 all out.

This was a great win for the Horley 3s and showed depth in both batting and bowling which is a big boost for next week's home match against league leaders Kilnwood Vale CC.

Horley Under-17s are celebrating winning the Surrey Junior Cricket Championship Tier Two South-East League. They had the title mathematically sewn up before last week’s final game of the season, at Reigate Priory, but still rounded their campaign off with another win.

Horley, captained by Harry Grimwood, started the season with away wins by seven wickets at Crawley Down and 46 runs at Salfords. They then hosted Oxted and Limpsfield, and won by eight wickets, before winning at Capel by the same margin. Horley beat Merstham by 71 runs, but then suffered their only defeat, losing by 75 runs to Reigate Priory Under-16s. They rediscovered their form, beating Newdigate by eight wickets before rounding it all off with a 53-run win v Priory Under-17s.

The Horley team draws on players from the under-14s, 15s, 16s and 17s. Harry Grimwood finished the season as the league’s top scorer with a total of 253 runs, while Horley’s Ben Stewart, Ryan Bunn, Evan Grimwood and Luke Smith were also in the top 10. Khyan Patel, Bunn and Ed James were in the league’s top-10 wicket-takers and Harry Grimwood took the most catches, 11.