Horley first XI clip Crawley Eagles' wings in friendly, 2nd XI see off Staplefield

Crawley Eagles elected to bat first and Horley skipper Charlie Robins got the first wicket in the first over.

The Horley bowlers were impressive throughout on a hard wicket that didn't offer much to them. The Eagles posted a total of 193-8 off their 40 overs.

There were two wickets each for Jon Barnett and Jordan Robins, who were the pick of the bowlers. Topscorer for Eagles was Shanaz Raheem, unbeaten on 48.

Horley came out to bat in impressive style and managed to knock off 194-1 in the 31st over.

The Remfry brothers continued their good form with the bat with Ben and Sam getting 53 and 42 not out respectively. The highest scorer of the day was Regan Derham with a fantastic 88 not out.

Horley’s club sponsor Keymex have kindly bought ‘baggy’ caps for all senior players and the players were handed their caps in ceremonies before each of the four men’s matches played this weekend. In future, players will be awarded their cap when they make their first senior appearance for the club.

Horley's first team go to Sanderstead next week in their last friendly before the league starts on May 8.

Horley 2nd XI played away at Staplefield and chose to bat first on what looked a very tricky batting surface.

Ant Puttick departed in the first over with his partner Richard Waddington then being joined by Lewis Tomkins. They put on a partnership of 75 runs in good time before Waddington was dismissed, caught behind for 41.

After this Tomkins continued to accumulate, eventually being dismissed for 64 runs.

Horley upped the pace towards the end with most batsmen trying to push up the scoring rate. Horley eventually finished on 212-8 from their 40 overs.

Horley’s bowling effort started well, picking up wickets at regular intervals. Matt Puttick, bowling with pace and control, picked up four top-order wickets, three lbw and one bowled.

After his eight-over spell Darren Croft came on and continued the good bowling by taking three wickets of his own.

Kashif Naveed bowled a miserly eight-over spell for only ten runs at the other end, taking one wicket and continuing his fine start as a new Horley player.

With Ant Puttick and Zac Collins taking a wicket each, Horley eventually bowled out Staplefield for 107 to win by 105 runs.

Following on from their first ever fixture last week, Horley 3rd XI ventured to picturesque Ditchling on a sunny but windy day for a challenging match against Streat & Westmeston 1st XI.

Horley were put in to bat for the timed game against the welcoming Sussex League Division Eight team.

After a steady start with the bat against some tight zippy bowling, three quick wickets brought Zeeraq Mustafa and Joey Wildman to the crease with 24 runs on the board.

With the former looking more fluent and more counter-attacking, skipper Wildman was happy to be steadier in accumulating runs and a 60-run partnership was built.

But, out of the blue, a bowling change brought about the wicket of Mustafa (41) on the stroke of drinks.

Aidan Spalding from Horley’s U13s, held firm with the bat and was caught at first slip in bizarre circumstances, the ball popping up off the keeper's boot.

The team’s 100 was followed closely by a flurry of wickets as the tight bowling was incessant and Horley closed their innings, with only 15 minutes left of the permitted time, on 107 all out.

Horley's defence started with some good tight bowling from Evan Grimwood and Jack Jee, but the S&W openers were up to the challenge and were unmoved, while keeping the scoreboard ticking over.

Ben Stewart took the only wicket with some pacey, accurate bowling, while Matthew Porter scored 50 in helping S&W cross the line in just over 20 overs.

This was a good test for the 3rd XI, who will look forward to playing other teams of this calibre again.

A strong Horley Sunday Strollers team welcomed old friends Eltham to Horley Row for a timed match and won by 97 runs.

Horley batted first and Kieran Childs continued his good form with the bat, making 66.

Harry Grimwood looked in good form before misjudging one and getting bowled, then Stewart Warren made a good 45 before stepping on his own wicket.

Nick Waddington and George Hyde made 44 not out and 21 not out as Horley declared on 210-3 after 40 overs, to give themselves 40 overs to bowl Eltham out.

Teenagers Alex Field and Ed James bowled good opening spells with no reward, then Naveed Sherwani came on and took 4-10 in five overs to reduce Eltham to 79-4. A superb low, diving slip catch from Nick Waddington accounted for one of the wickets.

Skipper Dave Childs then took the next three wickets to make the score 97-7.

Colin Terry and Ashley Yeo picked up one scalp each and Field finally got his reward with James taking a catch to dismiss the last batter in the 37th over and give Horley the win.