Horsham captain Thornely left frustrated by negative Preston Nomads

The Lions have slipped to fourth place which sees them 11 points adrift of Cuckfield in third.

Horsham won the toss and elected to field, but Nomads set a commanding 292-7 in 56 overs. Daniel Phillips hit 114 for the visitors and was ably supported by Jeremy Green (62).

In reply, Horsham scored 179-6 from 54 overs, with Nick Oxley top-scoring with 64 not out.

After another draw, Thornely was disappointed with how his side played but felt Preston’s negativity didn’t help.

He said: “We won the toss and decided to bowl but we didn’t bowl and field as well as we have.

“I thought Nomads didn’t really deserve the win. They had defensive fields so early on in our chase.

“They didn’t really attack us so on that basis they didn’t deserve to win the game in my opinion.

“I think that’s happened two weeks in a row. They’ve got almost 300 and not won both.

“I think they need to reevaluate their tactics when they’re in that position because it’s obviously not working. You should win with that score on the board.”

Horsham started brightly with a wicket but a 134 run second-wicket partnership between Phillips and Green gave Preston control.

Green was finally removed by Michael Munday (3-81) with Nomads going from 35-1 to 169-2.

Mika Ekstrom (2-61) and Munday took the third and fourth wickets before Phillips’ knock of 114 was ended by Jonathan Whiting (1-27).

Nomads lost two more wickets before Stuart Faith’s cameo (42* off 38 balls) helped them to 292-7.

In reply, Horsham got off to a disastrous start as two early dismissals left them on 13-2.

But captain Thornely led by example as he hit 43 before he was bowled by Will Collard (4-51).

As wickets fell, a superb unbeaten knock of 64 from Nick Oxley saw his side grind out a draw as he batted out the rest of the innings to see Horsham end on 179-6.

Thornely said: “It was frustrating to draw for the second week in a row.

“We lost two early wickets and then had to rebuild.

“We just weren’t able to stay anywhere near the scoring rate that we needed. We had to make the call and say we’re going to block out.

“I’m really proud of how the guys are playing, we’re not going to be one of those teams that roll over and get beaten.

“I think this will really stand us in good stead in our big games coming up in the next few weekends.”

Horsham’s next league fixture see them take on Hastings & St Leonards Priory at home this Saturday.