Division Two derby is tight affair (From Thurrock Gazette)

Horndon struggle to deal with rivals' power

1:20pm Thursday 24th May 2012 in Sport

Belhus 1st 231-9 Horndon on the Hill 1st 212 ao BELHUS maintained their one hundred per cent record in Shepherd Neame Essex League divison two in this derby encounter at Horndon on Saturday.

The first five batsmen all made a valuable contribution to a significant visiting score.

Gavin Jefferies hit seven fours and one six in a fine knock of 62 from 101 balls faced, while his captain, Wayne Read, hit 17 and there were scores of 41, 18 and 23 from Joe Joyce, Danny Joyce and Michael Fogg respectively.

As the innings flowed towards the mandatory 50-overs close, Martin Guilbert was undefeated on 24.

For Horndon, Theo Foley, Kashif Nizami and Thomas Moseley took two wickets each.

After tea, the Horndon cause was not helped by the two early run out dismissals of Jack Walsh and Michael Canavon, courtesy of good fielding work by Guilbert and Ryan Wells respectively, but Nizami and Jeff West added some steel to the home side’s reply with 38 and 83 respectively.

West’s stylish innings included eight boundaries from 88 deliveries.

But Nizami being bowled by Guilbert (1-36) and West similarly dismissed by Jefferies (2-50), it became an uphill struggle for Horndon despite the best efforts of Gary Ginsburgh, 20, and Chris Stone with 11 runs.

But with the home side only having four batsmen reaching double figures, Belhus were able to edge home in another tight finish.

Other Belhus bowlers amongst the wickets were Connor Day and Jamie Riley with 2-34 and 2-31 respectively while Billy Winter picked up one wicket for 30 runs.

For all the borough's cricket see Friday's THURROCK GAZETTE