Horley topple leaders after magnificent seven-wicket haul from Davies

Horley put their visitors in and they attacked the ball hard from the start, but Davies was taking wickets at regular intervals.

He had his third ‘five-for’ of the season by the time Gymkhana had scored 57, two bowled, one lbw, one a catch by Jordan Robins and a caught and bowled.

Guy Derham chipped in with the sixth wicket, caught behind by Baily, before another Baily catch gave Davies took his sixth.

Adam Stephenson picked up a wicket, caught by Jordan Robins, then Davies got his seventh, caught by Regan Derham.

A 33-run partnership for the 10th wicket was frustrating for Horley but Jordan Robins finally took the last wicket, caught by Phil Norman, and Davies finished with figures of 7-47 from 21 overs.

Gymkhana’s total was 136 and Horley had plenty of time to reach it. The Derham brothers got the innings off to a quickfire start, with Regan making 19 and Guy 21.

Baily and Norman then chased down the remaining runs, Baily finishing on an unbeaten 51 – including nine fours – and Norman on 44 not out to give Horley an eight-wicket win.

Horley travel to Merstham CC on Saturday for the last of the timed games, before a return to the limited overs format.

They are 15 points behind Battersea Ironsides CC in the second promotion spot and 21 behind leaders Gymkhana.

HORLEY CC 2ND XI

Horley CC 2nd XI were unable to upset the odds at top-of-the-table London Gymkhana CC 2nd XI as they lost their Surrey County League 2nd XI Premier Division match by seven wickets.

Gymkhana put Horley in and bowled them out for 85 in 30 overs, with Muneeb Ahmad taking five wickets, including the top three batters.

George Hyde top-scored for Horley with 36 while his team-mates struggled with a low bounce at one end of the pitch.

Matt Puttick bowled well in the reply, taking two wickets for 26 runs in his eight overs. Alex Field also picked up a wicket, but Gymkhana passed the target with 21 overs gone.

Horley host Putney CC next week and need to pick up points to increase the 12-point gap between them and the relegation zone.

HORLEY CC HACKERS

Horley CC Hackers are through to round three of the Sussex Slam T20 Men’s Cup thanks to a comfortable 25-run victory over Edenbridge CCRaiders at Horley Row.

Horley chose to bat first and a 36 from opener Guy Derham helped them make a promising start.

However, the innings then stalled somewhat, before a swift 40 from Phil Norman, plus 26 from Nathan Baily helped Horley reach a total of 147-7 from 20 overs.

If they hadn’t had an uncanny knack of picking out the fielders – with five of the seven wickets being caught – Horley could have posted a higher total and it looked like it might be tricky to defend.

However, two wickets from Matt Gainsford in his opening spell put Horley on track and Edenbridge never quite got ahead of the game.

Gainsford earned the biggest roar of the evening from the supporters when he leapt to attempt a one-handed catch on the boundary, with the sun in his eyes, released the ball as he was about to land over the rope. He just failed to regather it to complete the catch but turned a six into a single.

Aryan Patel took the prize wicket of opener Luke Boakes, caught by a diving Lewis Tomkins when he paddled a delivery round his legs, and good bowling from all of the Horley attack, with Ben Davies taking two wickets and Charlie Robins one, meant Edenbridge ended up on 122-6 after their 20 overs.

Horley play Crawley Eagles CC in the next round on Wednesday, July 28.

HORLEY CC UNDER-12s

Horley CC Under-12s finished their season with back-to-back matches, travelling first to Merstham CC on Monday before facing Reigate CC away on Tuesday.

Winning the toss, Horley sent Merstham into bat and had to wait until the fourth over before they took their first wicket – an incredible direct hit throw by Charlie Webber.

It wasn’t long before Dylan Chadwick’s bowling tempted a shot which was caught by Ryan Smith. Jack James then claimed two wickets – one lbw and the other a catch by Alex Koehler.

Thomas Hitchman’s first over brought him two wickets, bowled and caught by Alex Mutton, plus a run-out. Luke Benjamin then dismissed two more batters before Hitchman struck again, this time lbw, to leave Merstham on 86 all out from 17.4 overs.

Despite losing Koehler early on, contributions from Smith (25 not out), Mutton (17 not out) and Edward Rhodes retiring on 35 from just 14 balls saw Horley reach their target in 9.3 overs including thirteen fours and two sixes.

Unfortunately, Horley’s experience on Tuesday was noticeably different! Despite a steady innings from opener Smith, Horley were all out for 60 off 14.1 overs.

The team spirit that they have demonstrated all season led to some positive fielding from Riley Hill, Finley Jakins and Nathan Oliver, who ran out one of the openers for a duck.

Although Smith claimed two wickets and Mutton one, Horley couldn’t avoid the inevitable as Reigate reached their total with ten overs to spare.