Horley rise to third after second consecutive league victory

Battersea elected to bat first. Charlie Robins and Ben Davies, Horley’s opening bowlers, came out firing and Robins struck early in the third over.

Wickets continued to fall, with no batsman managing to get going and Battersea made just 63 all out, with the number 10 top-scoring with 16.

The ever-reliable Davies put on a superb bowling display, taking his third five-for of the league season, this time 5-30 off 12.

With only three bowlers used, Robins and Guy Derham finished with tidy figures of 3-7 and 2-16 respectively.

Horley lost opener Regan Derham early, but Matt Gainsford joined Matt Reid at the crease and hit an excellent quickfire 33 on a hard batting deck, which helped the runs flow.

Horley reached 64-2 off just 19.4 overs, with Reid on 22 not out and Aryan Patel on one.

The win moves Horley into joint third place and they will look to carry the momentum into this Saturday’s home game against Lingfield CC.

HORLEY CC 2ND XI

Horley CC 2nd XI picked up nine valuable points to help them move up the table in the Surrey County 2nd XI Premier Division thanks to a winning draw against Staines and Laleham CC.

Horley were put in to bat and lost Matt Ware early, bowled for eight, then Andrew Thomas for 19.

That brought George Hyde to the crease with Lewis Tomkins who put on a 50 partnership, before getting out in quick succession for 36 and 22 respectively.

Then Richard Waddington, batting at five, made an invaluable 76, in partnership with under-14s player Luke Smith, who batted really well for 15, taking Horley to 194 -6 from 49.5 overs.

In the reply, Horley kept Staines and Laleham very quiet, taking wickets at regular intervals. The visitors dug in for a draw and finished on 123-7 off 46 overs.

Several of Horley’s usual bowlers were unavailable so Chris Cosham put in a mammoth effort, bowling 22 overs in a single spell and taking 4-48. There was a wicket apiece for captain Darren Croft, Smith and Zack Collins.

HORLEY CC HACKERS

Horley CC Hackers topped their group in the Sussex Slam T20, winning all four games, and will now play Lingfield CC at home on July 8 in the first knockout round.

Horley’s last group game against Felbridge & Sunnyside CC Fury ended up in a nail-biting one-wicket win for the Hackers.

Felbridge made 139-4 from their 20 overs, with John Connelly retiring on 45. Ben Davies took 2-13 from his three overs, while Ant and Matt Puttick picked up a wicket each.

Phil Norman took a superb, leaping, one-handed catch on the boundary to save a six and dismiss Conor Dickson off Davies’ bowling.

In reply, Horley lost an early wicket but Norman, who top-scored with 29, and Jordan Robins (20) got Horley back on track.

Nathan Baily hit a quick 27, including a big six at long-on, but Horley then they suffered a collapse as Gavin Botha took a hat-trick.

Davies was batting well but was running out of partners, until Aryan Patel came in at number 11 and hit two consecutive fours to win the match, with Horley reaching 142 from 17.5 overs and Davies finishing on 27 not out.

HORLEY CC DEVELOPMENT XI

Horley CC Development XI got their Surrey Trust League season off to a winning start with an eight-wicket victory at Dorking CC.

In this competition, teams have to feature a combination of under-18, under-21 and senior players and Horley’s win came thanks to contributions from all the age groups.

Dorking elected to bat and were 70-0 after ten overs but collapsed to 130 all out in 29 overs.

Aryan Patel took the first wicket, clean bowling Charlie Kenway immediately after being hit for six.

In the next over Harry Grimwood took a smart catch behind the stumps off Alex Field to dismiss Toby Blood, and soon afterwards Jon Barnett held the catches to give both Patel and Field (2-13) their second wickets.

Skipper Matt Gainsford bagged a fine running catch off Barnett, who finished with figures of 4-11 from six overs, including two caught-and-bowled.

Gainsford picked up one wicket and Tom Clargo clean bowled the number 10 with his first ball, before holding the catch to finish the innings off Barnett’s bowling.

In constant rain, Horley batted with one eye on the Duckworth-Lewis scoreboard to make sure they would be ahead of the rate if the game was called off early.

Kieran Childs fell for nine, but the other opener, 16-year-old Udith Molanguri stayed put for 30 overs, making a well-paced 52 from 91 balls.

Boundaries were hard to come by on the wet outfield but he and Harry Grimwood took every run available and Grimwood was 45 not out from 84 balls when Horley reached Dorking’s total in the 34th over. Gainsford was four not out.

HORLEY CC UNDER-9s

Horley CC under-9s won their last league game of the season against a solid Oxted CC team to finish unbeaten.

Horley were invited to bat first and good knocks from Tom Jowett, Jake Benjamin and Naomi Hamilton enabled them to post a competitive net score of 279 with Max Wildman top-scoring with 18.

Tight bowling and smart fielding from Ruben Grebe, Harry Faulkner, Zach Douglas and Eoin Spalding ensured the close finish went Horley's way with Tom Jowett picking up three crucial wickets.

Horley's manager Dan Spalding deserves all the praise for keeping this team motivated, competitive and fun.