Attfield staying grounded after Horsham’s flying start

Horsham CC skipper Sam Attfield has played down his side’s perfect start to the season, insisting there is still room for improvement.
Horsham captain Sam AttfieldHorsham captain Sam Attfield
Horsham captain Sam Attfield

Hastings were the latest side to hand over all 30 points as Horsham made it two maximum points victories from two Premier League games.

Spinner Michael Munday, last season’s leading wicket-taker in the league, grabbed 6-45 as visiting Hastings were bowled out for 190.

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In reply John Burroughs and Ben Shoare made 60 for the first wicket, Burroughs going on to make 57. Former skipper Craig Gallagher then smashed a quick 68 not out, and helped by Tom Johnson (35 not out), saw Horsham home to a six wicket win which sees them lead the early Premier League standings.

Skipper Attfield afterwards said: “(It was) perfect really. It was tough, it was a fairly flat wicket as we knew.

“The bowlers bowled well early on, then Mike Munday and Ben Shoare, our other spinner bowled excellently and really constrained them to twos, threes an over and they (the Hastings batsmen) ended up getting themselves out. A few dropped catches, which wasn’t ideal but that’s an element of our game that we can work on.

“Batting wise we had good partnerships and that’s what I said we needed to do right at the start, build a couple of good partnerships and we’d win the game, especially on a wicket like that. Boony (Gallagher) batted excellently to get 60 odd not out, and JB also to get a 50 again.

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“A couple of wickets went down but that’s always the Horsham wobble. Tom (Johnson) gave us some stability and he also hit the bad balls which was good because you can get tied down and he came in and hit the bad balls well.”

Horsham face another tough test when champions Preston Nomads come to Cricketfield Road this Saturday. And Attfield is just concerned with getting the best out of all aspects of their game, rather then jumping too far ahead.

He added: “Ultimately I’m really glad to have another three points as Horsham captain, and hopefully we can do the same again next week against (Preston) Nomads.

“It’s a bit early for that (to call it a marker), we’re just trying to play a good level of cricket, that’s the key; bowling well, batting well and fielding well and as soon as we get to the halfway point of the season we’ll be able to assess things better.”

Some video highlights of the match against Hastings will appear on this website soon.

And for a full report pick up the West Sussex County Times newspaper, out on Thursday.