Baily hits unbeaten half century as Horley rack up trio of wins

Horley skipper Charlie Robins elected to bowl on a track that looked as though it could be batter friendly. Will Taylor (1-49) and Guy Derham (1-12) opened up and kept the score tight with some good lines, helped by tidy fielding. Derham made the breakthrough in the tenth over leaving Staines at 26-1.

Ryan Ramdin (39) was biding his time at the crease, picking off the bad balls. The game changed when Adam Stephenson (3-19) came on. He claimed his first victim in the 28th over after Staines had pushed the score to 75. Matthew Gainsford (3-35) also played a massive part in the Horley attack, clinging to two catches off Stephenson and taking a wicket of his own in a three-over period that saw Horley take the initiative and reduce Staines to 98-5.

There was a 30-minute rain delay which reduced both teams’ overs allocation by five. Gainsford didn’t take long to get back into his stride, taking his next in the first over after the restart. At 103-6, Horley were in the driving seat, but Staines skipper Trevor Langworth (24) and Joey Pierre (34) were attempting to accelerate the score, knowing they had less overs to bat. Taylor had Langworth caught behind and Gainsford took the crucial wicket of Pierre in the 48th over.

With Staines looking for any runs possible, Horley claimed the last two wickets run out, giving themselves 41 overs to chase down 173.

Horley lost Regan Derham in the first over to Ciaran Dunne (1-45), then David Dyer fell lbw to Langworth (1-23) and at 18-2 off seven overs, Horley needed an early rebuild. Anthony Puttick (39) and Nathan Baily (53 not out) led the way, taking Horley to 97 before Puttick fell to Ben Nannery (3-65). With Horley needing 77 from the remaining 17 overs, Ben Davies (34 not out) joined Baily to bat in a sensible manner.

A spanner was thrown into the works when Baily had to retire hurt after running a quick single and getting severe cramp in his calf. This gave Gainsford (22) a chance to go in and try to finish the innings in typical fashion. Unfortunately, he fell with the score on 172, and after a great one-handed catch from Nannery, but Horley made it over the line at 174-5. They now sit fourth in the table.

Horley 2nd XI are top of the Surrey County League 2nd XI Division One after a 95-run win over Effingham.

Horley were put in and Aryan Patel and Harry Grimwood made a decent start before Grimwood snicked one to the keeper. Horley then lost Patel and Richard Waddington before Matt Ware and Luke Smith rebuilt to get Horley to 100-3 before Smith holed out for 29. Ware followed shortly after for 19 and Horley continued to lose wickets regularly, not used to a slow difficult track. They ended up on 158 all out after 38.3 overs.

Effingham’s chase didn't really get going as opener Michael Angus managed to score just seven off 58 balls. Horley’s opening bowlers, Dan Sired (2-22) and Matt Puttick bowled good tight lines and Smith and Ben Stewart then continued, with the track offering some assistance. They took 2-4 and 2-12 respectively from their seven overs, and Trevor Stevens then bowled six maidens in his nine overs, going for just five runs and taking two wickets.When Waddington took the last wicket with his first ball, Effingham's number eight Mathew Meers was left on eight not out off 62 balls. Effingham were all out for just 63 from 43.1 overs, and four Horley bowlers had an economy under one.

A first senior five-wicket haul for under-15s player Sam Terry, and a crucial innings of 68 from Nick Chadwick took Horley 3rd XI to a 108-run win over Hindu Unity, putting them 36 points clear at the top of the Sussex Division 11 West (North) table, with a game in hand.

Horley elected to bat but found that variable bounce and a slow outfield made for tricky conditions at their Copthorne ground.

Opener Christian Kelly made 21 before being caught at slip and Chadwick built a patient innings with five different partners, also coping with a half-hour break for heavy rain. Ryan Bunn made a typically belligerent 23 from 13 balls, including one six, before being superbly caught on the boundary. Chadwick was next to go, after hitting ten fours in his 95-ball 68.

Ollie Millard and Alex Field added 38 for the seventh wicket before Field was lbw for 20 to a ball which stayed so low it hit his foot off a length. Millard batted on to make 26 and Horley finished on 215-9 from 40 overs.Terry and Max Davie bowled excellent opening spells. In the 12 overs they were in tandem, they reduced Hindu Unity to 34-6, taking three wickets each, with Terry bowling two in his sixth over. Terry, Darren Croft and Khyan Patel all held catches.

Field picked up the seventh wicket, lbw, after the drinks break, and keeper Dirk Douglas took a skied catch in Field’s next over to make it 70-8. Rajiv Dhawan was the only visiting batter to get out of single figures and he remained a thorn in Horley’s side, finishing on 62 not out. The last two wickets fell to Terry, back for a second spell, one clean bowled and one caught by Millard, as he finished with figures of 5-28 from 8.5 overs.

Horley Under-17s lost by 17 runs at Sutton in their first Surrey U17 Tier 1 match. Excellent Horley fielding was a feature of the match, with Ollie Millard and Luke Smith both holding fantastic catches on the boundary and Will Hofmann and Ryan Bunn getting runouts. Hofmann and Aidan Spalding took two wickets each and Dan Sired one as Sutton scored 122-7 from 20 overs.

Harry Grimwood and Ben Stewart put on 40 for the first wicket. Grimwood went on to make 35, including five fours, but then wickets fell regularly as Horley chased the game. Horley ended up on 105-7, but take plenty of positives from their performance.