Horley enjoy triumphant weekend for men's and women's teams

HORLEY CC 1ST XI

Horley’s first team travelled to play Merrow CC in the Surrey County League Premier Division and won by six wickets.

Skipper Charlie Robins won the toss and put Merrow in to bat in wet, overcast conditions.

Ben Davies and Robins started well to put the pressure on Merrow, but didn’t get the early wickets they were after. Matt Puttick then took over the reins and picked up the first wicket.

Merrow’s Jimmy Woodriffe continued to take on the Horley bowlers, but Adam Stephenson and Regan Derham came into the attack and slowed the run rate right down and took a wicket each.

Sam Bracken got Woodriffe for 76 with a fantastic runout which shifted the momentum back towards Horley, and Davies and Robins kept the pressure on in the closing overs, taking two wickets each and restricting Merrow to 195-8 after 45 overs.

Horley went about the chase in a positive manner and after ten overs were 44-1 with Derham applying plenty of pressure to the bowlers before he was out for 43.

Nathan Baily made sure the runs continued to flow and when Ben Davies came in at five the game was nicely balanced.

Another wicket would have put Horley under the pump, and a partnership would have sealed the deal for Horley.

Luckily it was the latter as Baily and Davies put on a fourth-wicket partnership of 63 and when Baily fell for 37, Jon Barnett and Davies took responsibility for guiding Horley home, both finishing on 39 not out as Horley won by a comfortable six wickets with a few overs to spare.

HORLEY CC 2ND XI

Horley CC’s 2nd XI romped to a nine-wicket home victory over Byfleet CC in their first match in the Surrey County League 2nd XI Premier Division.

Horley decided to field first in a game reduced to 39 overs per side due to rain. Anthony Puttick (1-8 from five overs) and Matt Gainsford (3-8 from six overs) bowled a great opening spell which reduced the visitors to 16-3 off 11 overs.

Darren Croft came on and took 3-12 and some additional excellent bowling from Kashif Naveed (1-3) and Zeeraq Mustafa (2-4) had Byfleet bowled out for just 38.

Horley were 7-1 after three overs but knocked off the runs in ten overs with Matt Ware 24 not out and Aryan Patel 12 not out.

HORLEY CC 3RD XI

Horley CC’s newly-formed 3rd XI won their third game out of four, this time beating Godalming CC away from home by five wickets.

Skipper Jorell Wildman put the hosts in and a fine opening spell of 4-14 by Evan Grimwood reduced Godalming to 30-4.

Wickets continued to fall, with Callum Tester taking two, Ryan Bunn one and Luke Smith picking up three in two overs as Godalming were bowled out for 81 in 18.2 overs.

Scoring wasn’t easy even with such a low total to chase but Harry Grimwood and Elliott Strode got Horley off to a good start, before Grimwood fell for 19. Strode battled on to 25, with Horley on 49-4 when he fell.

The visitors still had plenty of overs in hand but when Bunn came in he decided to hurry things along and after one over of playing and missing, hit three fours, a two and a six off consecutive balls in the next over to take Horley to victory and to finish on 21 not out from 11 balls.

HORLEY CC LADIES

Horley CC Ladies played their first ever competitive match away to fellow Surrey Women’s Cricket League Division Two debutantes, Walton on Thames CC.

Walton only had eight players, so Horley agreed to play eight aside, and elected to bowl.

With tight fielding and good bowling by the whole team, Horley managed to subdue Walton’s opening pair and eventually reduced their opponents to 100 all out in 18 overs.

In reply, Horley’s opening pair of Cheryl Douglas and Kersti Meyer batted faultlessly to knock off the target in 12.4 overs with Meyer scoring an unbeaten 55 and Douglas 33.

HORLEY CC SUNDAY STROLLERS

Dave Hyde hit a terrific 101 not out to help Horley CC’s Sunday Strollers to a 175-run win over Hermes CC.

It was Hyde’s first century for ten years and it came off just 56 balls, and included eight sixes and ten fours.

The delighted batter retired when he reached three figures with a massive six which went out of the ground.

George Hyde made 62 and Zeeraq Mustafa 52, while Danny Patel (22 not out) and Alex Field (29 not out) helped take Horley to a mammoth total of 293-6 from 40 overs.

The star of Hermes’ reply was James Hunt, who made 31 as they were bowled out for 118 in 33.4 overs, with 16-year-old Field posting his best senior cricket bowling figures of 4-21 from eight overs.

Colin Terry and Mustafa took two wickets each and Dave Childs and Kieran Childs one each.

HORLEY CC UNDER-12s

Horley CC under-12s got the new season off to a winning start when they beat Felbridge & Sunnyside CC at home.

Winning the toss and electing to field first, Horley kept the opposition's run rate down with some strong fielding from Finley Jakins, Dylan Chadwick and Charlie Webber behind the stumps.

Felbridge lost their first wicket in the fourth over to the bowling of Nathan Oliver. Edward Rhodes, Alex Koehler, Luke Benjamin, and Jack James also took a wicket each. James and Alex Mutton took a catch each before Mutton caught and bowled the final wicket.

Chasing a target of 116, opener Ryan Smith was unfortunate to be dismissed early on.

Rhodes retired on 33, including six fours and Riley Hill also posted a respectable 22 to help Horley claim all the points, finishing on 119-3.