Horley Cricket Club round-up: Winning draw for firsts in promotion clash

Horley 1st XI vs Weybridge Vandals 1st XI

On a very warm and sunny afternoon, 3rd place Weybridge welcomed 2nd place Horley in what could be a significant game in both teams push for promotion. Horley stand in skipper Ben Davies won the toss and elected to bat first. Horley, who have been struggling with the bat this year, got off to a much better start than usual, only losing Anthony Puttick to the bowling off Oscar Powell (1-60) in the first 10 overs. Regan Derham (70) and Nathan Baily (56) looked in control for a long time with Derham playing the anchor of the innings while Baily was trying to be the aggressor to make sure the score kept ticking over. With the score at 132, Baily would fall to the bowling of Scott Baker (1-51) and Derham would fall soon after to James Martin (2-21) leaving Horley on 157-3. Matt Ware (17) and Ben Davies (32*) looked to be pushing the score along nicely until Ware was trapped LBW by Mark Fenton (2-38). Martin would claim the wicket of incoming batsman Will Taylor which brought Richard Waddington (22) to the crease. With 6 overs left, both Davies and Waddington were upping the run rate to give Horley the best chance of victory. Waddington would fall to Fenton in the penultimate over. Davies declared with 1 ball left of the innings with Horley on 229-6, giving Weybridge 46 to chase down their total.

With the temperature not getting any cooler, Horley knew they had a long 46 overs ahead of them. However, in typical Ben Davies (1-38) fashion, he claimed a very early wicket with just 9 runs on the board giving Horley the early breakthrough they were after. Dan Fenton (31) and Sebastian Harrower (21) consolidated for Weybridge and looked comfortable scoring off both Davies and Will Taylor (1-62). This was until Luke Smith (1-7), making his 1st team debut at 15, came on in the 15th over and bowled Harrower with his 3rd ball which brought Amandeep Singh (40*) to the crease. Matthew Puttick (3-2) would replace Davies at the other end and with the help of Smith, they would see Horley to the drinks break with Weybridge 61-2. Puttick struck with the first ball after drinks, removing Fenton by sneaking one through the openers defences to clean bowl him. It wouldn’t take him long to find his next victim, getting Woo Powell caught behind with the last ball of the same over. Puttick looked like a man possessed and carried on in his next over, dismissing Oscar Powell without him troubling the scorers meaning Weybridge had lost 4 wickets for just 3 runs. Davies turned to Adam Stephenson (1-20) as it looked like Weybridge had decided to bat for the draw. Stephenson would make the next breakthrough in the 33rd over, giving Horley 13 overs to claim the last 4 wickets. However, Singh and Garry Foreman (21) mixed aggression with solid defence to try and grab their team as many batting points as possible. Taylor would claim his first victim off the last ball of the game, having Foreman stumped whilst bowling leg spin instead of the seam up he usually bowls. Weybridge finished on 152-7 meaning Horley secured the winning draw.

Horley remain in 2nd behind Effingham and are back at home next week, welcoming Lingfield who currently sit 7th in the 1st XI Premier table.

Horley 2nd XI continued their winning streak with a good team win against Roehampton. Horley won the toss and elected to bat and openers Grimwood and Thomas got off a good start and continued on to a 100 opening partnership before Grimwood fell just short of his 50. Thomas continued to score before he was eventually caught on 86, a season high for the skipper. Horley continued on to 216 with Syed finishing 44 not out.

Roehamptons chase got off to a flier with 60 coming off the first 10. Enter the spin quadette of Trevor Stevens, Ryan Bunn, George Hyde and Andrew Thomas who constricted the scoring rate and took wickets along the way with some great wicket taking deliveries. The game was looking close but some good fielding contributed to 3 runouts for the team. The game went close with Roehampton finishing on 196.

A solid team performance all round grants Horley another win.

Horley 3s vs Crawley Nayee 1s

A 50-run partnership by Leon Watson (20) and Joe Wildman(62) could not prevent a Horley 3rd XI loss at home against Crawley Nayee 1st in the Sussex League Division 11 West (North).

On a scorching Saturday, Horley 3s lost the toss and were invited to bat first on a new wicket.

A much changed line up for Horley saw 2 early wickets depart against some accurate bowling. Once Watson and Wildman departed agger their 50 run partnership, only Stewart Warren (18) and Oscar Hofmann (17) got to double figures to see Horley finished up on 145 for 9 off their allotted 40 overs. Vishal Gala the pick of the Nayee bowlers with 4 for 19.

Darren Croft (2 for 26) took a brace to stunt the Nayee chase early on. However, even though Will Hofmann, Dave Bunn and Jack Jee all took a wicket apiece with Bailey Warren carrying out a smart stumping, Horley were unable to defend a modest total against a good Nayee side. The wicket keeper Valleesh Prabhu top scored for Nayee with a solid 33 and led the way to their 5 wicket win.

Horley 3s will look for a win at Crawley 3s next Saturday.