Big win against Staines and Laleham keeps Horley in promotion hunt

Horley were put in and Regan Derham was accompanied by a new opening partner, 17-year-old Harry Grimwood. Both looked comfortable early on until Grimwood fell for ten in the seventh over to the Staines overseas player Sam O’Sullivan (2-39).

With the score at 36-1, Richard Waddington joined Derham in the middle. After taking some time to get off the mark, Waddington together with Derham then found runs easy to come by thanks to good shot selection, some loose bowling and some questionable fielding. The 100 partnership was brought up in the 27th over and Horley looked set to post a very intimidating score from their 50 overs. That is until Sean Archer (2-71) removed Derham for 68 in the 30th, and 158-2 soon became 196-4 with Ciaran Dunne (2-31) picking up the crucial wickets of Waddington and Jordan Robins in the 35th and 37th overs.

Ben Davies (31) was not about to let Staines back into the game, punishing the bad ball whenever he got the chance, pushing Horley up to 236-5 before he fell lbw. Horley lost another four wickets in the last five overs, with Aryan Patel (19) getting the only notable score amongst the lower order before being run out. After 50 overs, Horley posted 263-9, which they felt should be more than enough with a strong bowling attack.

Staines lost a wicket to Charlie Robins early in their reply but Sam Rose (55) took the attack to the bowlers and had his team well up with the required run-rate. He was assisted by O’Sullivan (22), who was being more watchful at the other end.

The game took a turn when Davies (5-20 off 8.1) replaced Will Taylor, who was unlucky not to take wickets after a series of edges from Rose. Davies removed Rose and O’Sullivan in consecutive overs to put Horley in the driving seat at 93-3 after 19 overs. Staines probably felt they were still in the game if they could get one or two partnerships together, but although Craig Alder hit a quick 25, Davies dismissed him and Ben Nannery to reduce Staines to 126-5.

Stephenson came on in the 26th over and ripped through the lower order, taking four wickets for nine in just five overs. Davies finished off the innings, completing his five-for, and topping off a good all-round day for Horley.

The win moves Horley move up to fourth and they welcome top of the league Trinity Mid-Whitgiftian next week. A win for Trinity would secure their promotion, but a win for Horley would keep the promotion dream going.

Horley 2nd XI lost by two wickets to Effingham, but remain second in Surrey County League 2nd XI Division One with two games remaining.

Horley elected to bat, a decision that did not fare well as they lost openers Andrew Thomas (0) and Dan Sired (2) early.

Number three Dave Dyer was the only batter who looked able to score as the pitch was proving tricky, but he fell for 25. Horley continued to lose wickets consistently as Effingham bowled tight lines and lengths, and were struggling badly at 88-9. Teenagers Sam Terry and Will Hofmann then produced an excellent rearguard action, scoring 29 and 13 respectively and pulling Horley up to 139 off 45 overs.

Effingham's reply got off to a shaky start as opening bowlers Rob Woodward (3-29) and Guy Derham (3-18) picked up early wickets. An excellent 49 from number four Alex Muggleton kept Effingham ticking along while further wickets fell at the other end to Woodward, Derham and Hofmann.

Muggleton was stumped by Thomas off Trevor Stevens, but an unbeaten 32 from the number seven Nick Bond was enough to get Effingham over the line in the 44th over, with eight wickets down.

Horley 3rd XI are still hanging on to second place in Sussex Division 11 West (North) despite a 72-run loss to Hindu Unity. It was their third successive defeat, partly due to players moving up to fill gaps in the 2nd XI.

When Horley entertained Unity in June they bowled them out for 107 but the hosts put in a much better batting performance this time against a much younger Horley side, making 203-9 from 40 overs.

Ryan Smith took three early wickets and if two catches hadn’t been dropped off Alex Field in the first and fifth overs, Unity might have been bowled out more cheaply. They recovered from 30-3 to 80-4, with Field bowling Rajiv Dhawan for 25, before wickets for Aidan Spalding and Khyan Patel either side of drinks had Unity reeling at 98-6.

However, Nipuun Bahl and Abdul Alim made a rapid 76 for the seventh wicket and although Darren Croft with two wickets and skipper Kieran Childs with one, reined them back, Unity set a decent total. Oscar Hofmann held two catches and Danny Patel one.

Childs played through the pain of a knee he injured while fielding and put on a sound opening partnership of 53 with Khyan Patel, before Patel was bowled for 14.

Artie Hoskins and Danny Patel both failed to score but Field and Childs took the score to 90 before Childs was lbw for 50 (44 balls, seven fours, one six). It was an excellent innings from the skipper, finding the gaps with a variety of shots.

Field batted on to make 20 but when he was bowled by one moving a long way, Horley were struggling at 110-6. Andrew Longley made 12 but no one else got out of single figures and Horley were bowled out for 131 in 29.5 overs.