Horley lose to leaders despite Taylor taking five

The 1sts went away to top-of-the-table Purley in Surrey Championship Division Four East and were unfortunate to lose by 17 runs despite Will Taylor taking a five-wicket haul.

Despite being a few players light of the usual starting XI, Horley did extremely well in the field after putting the home side in, restricting them to 160 all out. Taylor was to the fore in the attack, knocking back the stumps four times and taking a caught and bowled for excellent figures of 5-36.

Purley made a steady start before Lachlan Biggs (21) was lbw to Ben Davies (2-23) with the score on 30. At 45-1 a seemingly clear nick was not given and by that time opener Matt Wood had been in for an hour scoring only two runs.

In the 18th over Chris Cooper was out for 25 caught by debutant Aidan Spalding off Matt Gainsford (1-11) and 55-2 became 60-3 when Irfaan Baksh (1-34) bowled Shane Patel.

A partnership of 64 was then built by captain James Scott and Wood before Wood was out for 27, bowled by Taylor.

When the score had moved on to 132, Taylor came in at full pelt and dismissed, first Jack Johnson (5), then, with the very next ball, Razi Khan, both seeing their stumps in disarray. Although the hat-trick eluded Taylor, the final ball of the over saw Riven Vidyadhran out caught and bowled.

Scott then made his well-judged 50 but one run later gave a catch to Gainsford at long on off Jon Barnett (1-14) and Purley were 141-8. Rafe Worsfold and Thishan Wanigaratne added 18 runs for the ninth wicket before Taylor got his fifth, clean bowling Worsfold. Davies closed off the innings, Gainsford taking another good catch.

A word of praise for 17-year-old Spalding on his first-team debut. Although he didn’t take a wicket, he kept to his line and length and fielded well, and looks a good prospect.

Horley’s innings started off at 100mph with 13 wides in the first two overs and although Aryan Patel was dropped in the fifth over, Ben Remfry chopped the next ball onto his stumps and was out for 6.

It became 37-2 when Patel was lbw to Scott for 8. Regan Derham joined CP Singh in the middle and they took the score to 70 before Derham chopped onto his stumps.

The 100 came up in the 29th over, Davies having joined Singh, but seven runs later Davies was very unfortunate to be adjudged lbw to Wanigaratne (4-18).

Barnett was out caught at long off without scoring and then Gainsford was similarly unfortunate to be adjudged lbw for 0. When Taylor was bowled by Worsfold, Horley were 132-7, with eight overs remaining, but Singh was still in. When he was dropped on the boundary it felt like it might be Horley’s day, but it was not to be, as he was out next ball caught at cover for 67.

It was left to the tail to try to score the remaining 25 runs. Baksh fell in the same over as Singh for a duck and Spalding who had lasted 21 balls, was caught in the gully for 5 as Horley were all out for 143.

Horley are fifth in the Surrey Championship Division Four East, 28 points shy of the promotion spots. They will look to get back to winning ways next week at home against second-bottom Old Whitgiftians.

Horley 2nd XI are now effectively out of the promotion chase in Surrey Division Eight East, 53 points adrift of the top two after slumping to an eight-wicket defeat at the hands of Woodmansterne 2nd XI, who are three places below them in the table.

Sasith Mahawaduge did the damage for Woodmansterne, taking an astonishing 6-2 in 3.4 overs as the hosts were bowled out for 75 at Horley Row.

Horley elected to bat but found it difficult to get into their stride. They had 32 runs on the board when Ryan Bunn fell for 13 in the eighth over. Henrick Cook and Dean Martin battled on for nine overs, scoring slowly. They were dismissed in successive overs with Cook caught by Thomas Wortley off Ross Jacobs for 25, then Martin caught behind by James Mulley off Poorna Kanishka Egalla for 6.

Horley weren’t happy to be 62-3 after 19 overs, but far worse was soon to come, as spin duo Wortley and Mahawaduge came into the attack and ended Horley's innings in the next eight overs.

Skipper George Hyde tried to play some shots but fell for 6, caught by Nicholas Vagg off Wortley.

Then, in the 23rd over, Guy Derham and Dan Sired were both bowled by the tricky Mahawaduge. He struck twice more in the 25th over, having Khyan Patel caught by Leigh Patterson and Tom Jowett stumped by Mulley.

Horley were reeling at 71-8 and Mahawaduge repeated the two-wicket trick for a third time in the 27th, bowling Chris Cosham and Justin Moutinho and Horley were all out for 75 from 26.4 overs, with Alex Field 4 not out.

Egalla was the star of Woodmansterne’s reply, making 51 from 42 balls, including ten fours.

The only chink of light for Horley came when Field replaced Cosham after he tweaked his hamstring bowling the first ball of the fifth over, and took two wickets in the next four balls, having Anthony Narain caught behind by Hyde for 3 and a furious Tim Smith lbw for a duck.

The visitors were 16-2 at that point, but, despite them playing a few false shots which just evaded the fielders, Egalla and Vagg saw Woodmansterne home after 15 overs, leaving Horley to rue a very bad day at the office.

Horley 3rd XI remain third in Sussex Division Ten West after an exciting and enjoyable nine-run win at Findon.

Horley decided to bat first on what looked like a decent wicket, but Findon started well, limiting the early runs. Rob Rigby fought back with some lovely shots finding the boundary before Findon eventually took their first wicket as Jonathon Priyaraj was caught and bowled by Austin Broad (4-39).

Findon soon struck again as Matt Ware – playing his first game of the season after a bad injury – was out lbw to Broad having hit one lovely four.

After a little fightback from Horley, Broad struck again, bowling Andrew Burbidge for just 6. Horley knew a partnership was needed and Dirk Douglas was next to the crease and found the boundary early but couldn’t keep it going as Broad struck again with a catch taken by Tim Corcoran.

Rigby was next to depart after a well-made 25, caught by Peter Hughes from the bowling of Charlie Coulson.

Skipper Kieran Childs came in with the score on 71-5, hoping to put some pressure back on the opposition, and started nicely, finding the boundary easily. He was dropped once, then his luck ran out as Coulson bowled him for 19.

Ollie Millard and Ashley Low batted well together, bringing Horley back into the game, ticking the ball around and punishing the loose ball. Findon eventually broke the partnership when Millard made the wrong choice of shot and was bowled by Carl Broad for 22. Low went for 17 shortly after, caught by Coulson off Hughes.

Oscar Davies and Jack James scored some crucial extra runs for Horley before losing their wickets with Carl Broad bowling James for 10 and Hughes bowling Davies for 14, bringing Horley to 154 all out.

James and Childs opened the Horley bowling and started well, putting pressure on Findon. After a few dropped chances, Findon began to find the boundary and the runs were stacking up.

A bowling change was needed and it worked with Burbidge finding the breakthrough for Horley, bowling John Cox for 11.

Lewis Cox and Oliver Coulson took the score on to 64 before Burbidge and Trevor Stevens proceeded to bring the game back for Horley.

Stevens dismissed Lewis Cox for 25 from a catch by Childs, then had Corcoran caught by James. Burbidge and Stevens then accounted for the two Broads, both caught behind by Douglas for a duck.

Stevens finished his nine overs on 3-25, with two maidens, and Burbidge took 2-41.

Findon moved on from 82-5 to 100 and Horley’s opening bowlers came back on with Childs hoping to put his team back in the driving seat. Childs bowled Ethan Condon for 14, but with Findon only needing 40 runs, Horley had to keep things tight and find wickets. James delivered with two wickets coming in quick succession one caught by Millard in the slips to dismiss Oliver Coulson for 24 and another taken in gully by Childs to get Charlie Coulson out for 1 run.

With the main bowlers bowled out, Childs turned to Davies and Low, hoping they could defend the 23 runs Horley had to play with. Davies’ first over went for 11, but Low bowled a great over, conceding just three runs to put the pressure right back on the hosts with two overs to come. Davies then took his side to victory with the first two balls of his second over, Hughes going for 8 with a catch taken by Ware and Findon’s injured Mark Byerley falling lbw.

Horley 3rd XI entertain fourth-placed Horsham Trinity next week in a match that is crucial to their promotion chances.