Horley 1st XI had their closest away day, versus Reigate Priory 2nd XI, and were delighted with a seven-wicket win over hosts who had won their first three Surrey Championship Division Four East games this season.
Reigate chose to bat and with Will Taylor slightly late for the start, Ben Davies spearheaded Horley’s attack with Guy Derham. Seth McDowall got Reigate off to a good start with a mixture of elegant and expansive shots, but Davies cut his fun short. Having asked Regan Derham to stand up to the stumps, he rapped McDowall on the pads, trapping the Reigate captain lbw for 25.
One soon turned into two for Davies, as two balls later Fraser McGuinness played on to his own stumps without troubling the scorers. Davies (3-28) wasn’t finished. In his next over, he claimed the scalp of Jonathan Flanders, getting one to nip away and clip the top of off stump, reducing Reigate to 42-3 after nine overs.
The home side were in desperate need of a rebuild, but Horley weren’t giving them any room to manoeuvre, as Taylor, who had replaced Guy Derham, got in on the action with the first ball of his second over, having Fin Wilsher caught behind.
Charlie Robins went one better, claiming his first with the first ball of his spell, and at 51-5, Horley had Reigate on the ropes. Sam Bell (51) tried to lead a recovery and it took Horley ten overs to find their next victim, Robins (2-25) getting William Jones caught behind.
At 77-6, Horley knew Bell was the key wicket. He was showing he had a mature head on young shoulders, frustrating the bowlers. Matthew Gainsford (4-24) has already been vital with both bat and ball for Horley this season, and Mr Reliable did it again in his first over, with Caleb Whiteford putting one straight into the hands of CP Singh at slip.
Bell was slowly starting to run out of partners but brought his 50 up in the 38th over, before Gainsford sent him back to the pavilion at the start of the 39th after a smart catch running backwards from skipper Regan Derham. Gainsford only had to wait three balls for his next, as Sam Remfry held a catch to reduce Reigate to 131-9. Gainsford closed out the innings in the 43rd with a caught and bowled, meaning Horley had 50 overs to chase down 143.
Ben Remfry and Sam Remfry opened Horley’s response, knowing that spending time at the crease was the key to getting over the line. Ben Remfry, with his usual aggressive intent, picked up a couple of early boundaries, but Toby Briggs tempted him with a delivery outside the off stump that he edged to the keeper.
Singh came to the crease at 18-1 in the third over and set about his work. With neither batter taking any unnecessary risks, the score was moving along nicely, and although Reigate skipper McDowall was rotating his bowlers, he couldn’t find a breakthrough.
By the time of the first drinks break at 17 overs, Horley were 70-1. Singh took on the role of aggressor, looking as elegant as ever, scoring runs all around the ground, and Horley seemed to be cruising to another 20 points.
Singh brought up his 50 in the 25th over, but McDowall made sure he didn’t see Horley over the line, getting the overseas caught at mid-off for 58, but at 122-2, the damage had already been done. Fin Wilsher prolonged the game by claiming the wicket of Regan Derham, however Sam Remfry (49) and Davies (2) saw Horley to the finish.
Horley move up to third and will be looking to end another unbeaten start to the season next weekend when they welcome Purley to Horley Row.

Horley 2nd XI beat Merstham 2nds by 149 runs in Surrey Division Eight East at Horley Row, with Luke Smith playing a beautiful innings to make his first century in adult league cricket.
Horley elected to bat and lost two early wickets when Danish Mehmood and skipper Toby Davie were bowled by Liton Tarofdar in the third over – a double-wicket maiden.
So, number four Smith found himself at the crease early and made the most of the opportunity, batting for 172 minutes, facing 118 balls and hitting 13 fours on his way to 108. The 17-year-old played patiently, going through a range of shots and coping well with a low bounce.
His partner for the first 15 overs was Ryan Bunn, who also batted well to make 63 before he was smartly caught and bowled by Imran Aslam. Bunn was less gung-ho than usual, but still dealt mostly in boundaries, hitting 13 fours in his 64-ball knock, as Horley’s score went from 3-2, to 98-3.
Ant Puttick and Smith put on another 49 for the fourth wicket before Puttick was bowled by Leo Hollidge for 27 (four fours) in the 29th over and Horley were 147-4.
Dan Sired started his innings slowly, but his patience paid off as he gradually found some momentum and, with Smith still selecting his shots well at the other end, the pair put on 102 for the fifth wicket in a little over an hour.
Smith reached his century in the 42nd over and was finally out off the fourth ball of the last over, bowled by Tarofdar. Horley finished on 251-5 (45 overs).
Merstham were in trouble early in their innings as Aidan Spalding bowled a wicket maiden in the second over, dismissing Ed Harvey lbw. Puttick then executed a good stumping off Spalding at the start of the sixth to make the score 5-2.
Seven overs later, Alex Field had Ed Loader caught at slip by Davie, the captain then took a catch off Spalding (3-19) in the next over to dismiss Asa Curtis for 25 and in the 17th over Field (2-30) trapped Hollidge plum lbw for 20.
Irfaan Baksh held a catch – with a little juggle – off Will Hofmann and Davie took his third catch, also off Hofmann (2-25), to make the score 87-7 after 24 overs.
Two balls into the 25th, the eighth wicket fell as Hofmann caught Abdullah Jaura off the miserly Baksh (6-3-7-1).
Naveed Saeed and captain Bobby Sharp stayed together for eight overs before Mehmood held on to a low caught and bowled dismiss Saeed off the first ball of the 34th over. Mertham were all out for 102 off the final ball of that same over when Aslam was run out, with Field flattening the stumps with a direct hit from short cover after Baksh had thrown in from the deep.
Horley remain fifth in the table and go away to fourth-placed Woodmansterne next Saturday.

A century for 13-year-old Tom Jowett in a huge second-wicket partnership with Nick Chadwick set Horley 3rd XI up for a comprehensive victory at Lancing Manor In Sussex Division Ten West
Batting first, from just the fourth ball of the Horley innings, Henrick Cook was out to a terrific diving catch. This brought Jowett to the crease and both he and Chadwick put the Lancing bowlers to the sword as they amassed 174 runs in exactly 26 overs.
They counter-attacked with clever shot selection and powerful stroke-play against the opening bowlers, including one massive straight drive for six from Jowett (which cleared the thicket of trees which grow well inside the boundary, directly behind the bowler's arm).
Boundaries flowed regularly from both batters as they cut, drove and pulled the ball to all areas, and Jowett was first to bring up his 50 in the 11th over. Soon after the drinks break, Chadwick reached his own half-century.
Lancing thought they had broken the partnership when Jowett was caught on 87 but the delight soon turned to despair as a no-ball had been called. Jowett capitalised by regaining his composure and continuing to accumulate runs, before pulling the ball through midwicket for four to reach his maiden century in the 26th over.
Having superbly marshalled his younger batting partner to his hundred, Chadwick fell in the following over for a fabulous knock of 64 runs from 73 balls (seven fours and two sixes). Liam Adams replaced Chadwick and batted in a typically aggressive manner to continue the momentum.
Jowett was finally out in the 30th over, caught after one aerial attacking stroke too many, and he was applauded off after scoring 114 from 96 balls (18 fours, one six). He benefitted from some dropped catches but his achievement in scoring a century in adult cricket at the age of 13 prompted discussions about whether this had been achieved by anyone younger in the history of the club.
Dirk Douglas (16 from nine deliveries) and Jack James (20 from 18) provided lower order impetus and Adams finished on 49 not out off 31 balls as Horley closed their innings on 282-6 from their 40 overs.
Ryan Smith and Chris Cosham conceded just one run from the first four overs of the reply as the opening partnership was broken by a run out with a terrific direct hit from Cook.
Smith and Cosham continued to bowl tightly and Smith gained his reward when Oscar Davies took a good catch to dismiss Chris Salt with the score at 27-2 in the 12th over. This brought Jamie Funnell to the crease and the innings gained some momentum, although this was stalled by the third wicket falling with Jack James taking a catch from the bowling of Cosham to dismiss Nick Brown.
Lancing went on the attack, which brought a consistent supply of boundaries but also led to regular wickets falling. Davies took his second catch of the afternoon off the bowling of Cook before Adams (3-32) picked up three wickets (one bowled and the others caught Chadwick and Douglas) to reduce Lancing to 141-7 after 32 overs.
Some incredible power hitting from Adam Ingleby (66 not out from 37 balls) and Nathan Curran (37 not out) resulted in 71 runs coming from the last six overs but the target remained way out of reach as Lancing finished on 218-7 and Horley deservedly took home the victory.