Horley Cricket Club's 1st XI miss out on victory in nail-biter

Horley skipper Charlie Robins elected to bowl on a pitch that looked like offering something for the bowlers early on. Will Taylor (3-53) and Ben Davies (2-41) kept things tight for the first 10 overs, resulting in Taylor claiming the scalp of Zak Pooley (30), who was the aggressor of the Egham opening partnership.

Egham were a little tentative, meaning Horley could put the squeeze on any run-scoring. With a change of bowling at both ends, Guy Derham (1-31) had the Egham skipper caught behind, leaving the score at 64-2 after 14.

Milen Gogev (58) attempted to get the score flowing, even if some of his running between the wickets was questionable.

With both batsmen seeming comfortable against Horley’s seamers, Robins turned to Adam Stephenson (3-36) and Jon Barnett and both spinners got through their overs quickly, putting pressure on Egham. Stephenson was the beneficiary, bowling all three of his victims.

He also saw a run out come off his bowling, thanks to some good fielding from Derham, to get rid of Shivam Mishra (23), who had been starting to look dangerous.

At the end of Stephenson’s 10 overs, Egham were 171-6 with eight overs to go and Taylor and Davies picked up the last four wickets between them, dismissing Egham for 206 with two balls left of their 50 overs.

Horley slumped to 21-3, thanks to some consistent bowling from Ryan Dennis (1-31) and Dan Telford (2-59). Anthony Puttick (29) and Ben Davies (41) stared rebuilding, with Puttick looking especially comfortable, until Egham’s first change bowler Matthew Cooper (1-18) dismissed him with his first delivery, plunging Horley back into uncertainty at 50-4 after 13 overs.

A horrible mix up between Davies and new batsman Barnett, after a dropped catch, left the latter stranded halfway down the track and at 66-5, David Dyer (53) joined Davies for his debut for the Horley 1st XI.

Both looked at ease, knocking the ball around into gaps, knowing that the run rate wasn’t an issue.

The game took its next turn at the start of the 30th over when Shivam Mishra (1-38) took the important wicket of Davies, leaving Horley 110-6. Dyer carried on his work with the help of Will Taylor (31 not out) who was playing his role perfectly by rotating the strike at every opportunity.

There was another twist in this game though; with Dyer having just reached his 50, he attempted a quick single to mid-off and was run out, meaning Horley were 165-7, requiring 42 from the last seven overs.

Taylor and Derham (22 not out) picked up runs where they could to take the game down to the wire. With two overs left, Horley needed 11 and seemed to be in the driving seat, after Derham bludgeoned a couple of boundaries off the 48th over. Five runs in the 49th over meant six were needed to win off the last, but Cooper held his nerve, only conceding three, so Horley finished on 204-7.

Horley will take a lot of positives from the game and look to get their first win at Haslemere on Saturday.

Horley Cricket Club Under-15s

Horley Cricket Club Under-15s will be playing the Swiss National Under-15s team in a T20 match on Saturday (20 May) at Horley Row.

Horley Under-15s team manager Danny Patel was contacted by the tour organisers to ask if the Swiss team could include Horley in their schedule and he was delighted to accept.

“This is a great opportunity for our boys to play a form of international cricket which doesn’t come along every day,” says Patel.

"The team is really looking forward to pitting their wits against a team that won a T20 competition against Denmark last year.

"This also shows how far our Horley club has come over the past few years, to be able to stage of game of this type.”

The match will start at 9.30am and spectators are welcome.

This weekend, Horley Under-15s lost to Old Whitgiftians by one run in a thrilling Surrey Junior Cricket Championship Tier One North match.

Put in to bat, Old Whitgiftians made a steady start.

Some good stroke play and poor bowling with a large number of extras being conceded meant they reached 92-2 after 15 overs, with a wicket each for Alex Mutton and Daniel Sired.

Horley then came back into the game with three wickets from Khyan Patel, a wicket for Sam Terry and one for Hrishi Patel. A late surge from Old Whits captain Marley Simpson saw them finish with 173-7 off 30 overs.

Horley’s openers Khyan Patel and Sired put on 48 before Sired was bowled. Then another good partnership between Patel and Terry put on 41 before Terry succumbed.

Wickets fell steadily but Khyan Patel stayed put and reached his half century.

He eventually fell for 66 from 64 balls, including eight fours, but at 135-4 Horley were right in the game.

However, some tight bowling towards the end, mean Horley needed six off the last over and tight bowling from the skipper, who came on to bowl his last over, left Horley needing three off the last ball. As they ran for the second to try and claim a tie, Ryan Smith was run out and Horley lost by one run.