As the temperatures rise, so do the totals as batters relish conditions in the AJ Sports Surrey Championship Premier Division. Richard Spiller surveys on week eight of the campaign
Cranleigh v Sunbury
Clyde Fortuin’s heroic fightback was not enough to save Cranleigh from defeat as leaders Sunbury charged on.
The 27-year-old South African cracked 164 but it could not prevent the basement side suffering their sixth reverse in eight games, being beaten by 86 runs to leave them 21 points adrift at the bottom.
Sunbury, who have now won five games and enjoy a 17-point cushion at the summit, marched to 318-8dec from 57 overs, despite having been in trouble at 52-4 when taking first use, losing Surrey’s Nico Reifer to his first ball. But they had a fifth wicket partnership of 174 between Colby Dyer (93) and Middlesex all-rounder Martin Andersson (93) to thank for the dramatic turnaround, Reifer’s’ county colleague Yousef Majid having a mixed day as he claimed 3-63 from eight eventful overs.
Facing such a huge challenge, Cranes lost Bruno Broughton and Lewis Bedford early, Fortuin utterly dominating a 118 stand for the third wicket with George Ealham (31). Once that partnership was split he was effectively on his own, no one else reaching double-figures. But it was not until Fortuin departed at 228-9 – having hit 22 fours and two sixes – that Sunbury could be sure of victory, wrapping up the match four runs later. Colby added four wickets to his earlier century while Amar Virdi’s prolific campaign saw him bag 4-59 to give the Surrey off-spinner 20 wickets at 25 so far this season.
Sunbury can go into Saturday’s game against second-placed Guildford in confident mood.
Guildford v Normandy
Victory over Normandy ensured surprise packages Guildford made it four wins out of four in June.
That kept them in second place, 17 points behind Sunbury but 14 in front of the rest, after a fascinating clash with their nearest neighbours.
When the visitors plunged to 16-3 after being inserted, it threatened to be a quick match but 99 from Australian wicketkeeper Harry Nielsen – who has scored 345 runs so far – marshalled the resistance, putting on 79 for the fourth wicket with Chris Booth (36). He missed out on a century by one run, edging behind off fellow countryman Jono Merlo. Sam Holland (24) and Sam Wellfare’s staunch 19 kept the hosts out in the heat before Normandy were finally bowled out for 214 in the 60th over. Merlo’s 3-70 from 20 overs was backed up by skipper Olly Birts claiming 4-68 from 16.4.
Having almost messed up a similar chase a week earlier, Guildford made much smoother progress under the guidance of opener Ben Garrett, adding 64 for the second wicket with Freddie Geffen (26) and 80 with Merlo, whose 49 maintained his excellent all-round contribution. Garrett was to be the second player dismissed for 99 – missing out on his maiden first team century – when he ducked under a Prahlad Odedra bouncer but stepped out of his ground, keeper Nielsen throwing down the stumps. Alex Sweet ensured the game was won by four wickets with 13.3 overs in hand.
Esher v Ashtead
It’s been a month of ups and downs for Esher but they finished June pointing the right way again. Having started with 90-run win at Normandy, defeats to Sunbury and Wimbledon knocked the early frontrunners off the top. Victory over Ashtead proved just beyond them but 13 points from a winning draw at least meant a rise from fifth to third.
The struggling visitors, who lie ninth, used their full 66 overs to reach 269 all out after choosing to bat first, West Indian opener Kieran Powell’s’ 61 finding support from Conor Young (46) and Ben Sidwell’s 30 down the order. Left-arm spinner Dan Taylor collected 3-50 from 17 overs.
Badly missing key all-rounder Justin Broad, now on the Northamptonshire staff, Esher had to rely on opener Anosh Malik’s 113 but the next best was 25 from Andrew McCallum. Despite left-arm spinner Tom Homes claiming 4-69, Esher claimed the higher run rate draw at 230-8 from the 54 overs back.
Reigate Priory v Wimbledon
A late collapse cost Wimbledon defeat by 82 runs to present Reigate with their first win in June.
Having elected to bat first, Priory saw Richie Oliver (52), Andy Delmont (53), Alex Ross (87) and Luke Haughton’s 82no push them to 284-4 in the maximum 66 overs. They got over one big hurdle early in the reply when Ryan Patel was bowled for a single by Richard Stevens with the delivery striking his left elbow on the way through. Patel later left the ground with an ice pack on his elbow but reported no ill-effects on Sunday.
Only Nick Welch (44) offered much resistance early on, the champions sliding to 94-5 until Tim Lloyd (62) and Billy Sewell (46) conspired in a sixth wicket alliance worth 89. Once they were split at 183, the visitors fell apart against Stevens (4-53) and former Somerset leg-spinner Michael Munday, whose 4-50 earned Reigate victory with 3.3 overs to spare.
It left Wimbledon fifth with Priory two places below them.
Weybridge v East Molesey
They might be without a win still but there’s no doubting Weybridge are a tenacious bunch.
Just two weeks after conceding a league record 444-8dec against Ashtead, East Molesey took their weakened attack 363-6dec – but on both occasions Nathan Tilley’s men stuck it out to claim winning draws.
It threatened to be a long and uncomfortable day for the hosts while Moles skipper Nick Stevens – whose 156 was his first league century in eight years – and Tom Phillipe were adding a mighty 204 for the second wicket, Stevens declaring after 62 overs. Steve Reeves absorbed much of the hard work in finishing with 3-138 from 23 overs.
Just to prove what a good surface it was, Tilley (79) and Hayden Ali (51) began with the chase with 130, Ben Curran’s 96 taking up the running. When he departed at 296-6, it seemed Moles must prevail but Jake Gordon’s unbeaten 48no gained support from the tail, needing help from Joe Barrs (16no) to edge closer to the winning draw mark of 340. Andy Westphal bowled Barrs and had Ajmal Allahdad leg-before next ball but Gordon prevailed at 341-9 in a match which stretched past 8.30pm. Westphal’s 18 overs earned him 5-73.
The 12 points gleaned from that match kept Weybridge five points beyond the drop zone while East Molesey lurk in fourth place.
Best of the rest
Tyler Meyer’s 6-52 hurried Dulwich to defeat as Banstead opened up a 31-point lead at the top of Division One.
Victory by 95 runs came after being bowled out for 222 having chosen to bat first, opener Ayush Patel (48) and tailender Mohammad Shahid’s 50 which resuscitating the visitors from 135-8. Simon Harwood’s 4-40 did much of the damage.
It proved too many for Dulwich, left-arm spinner Meyer’s haul aided by Arsalan Abbas (3-280.
Valley End shaded a tense clash of the chasers at Cheam Road to stay second, being bowled out for 279 in 61.2 overs despite Josh Blake – who made his Surrey T20 debut last week – taking five catches and a stumping. Among his victims were top-scorer Ed Young (79), George Jackson finishing with 4-73.
Blake’s day went downhill after watching Cameron Tanner crack 105 in 74 balls in dominating an opening stand of 139 with Rehan Ratnasapabathy (63), being run out for three as Sutton stumbled to 249-8 for a losing draw.
Results, fixtures and live scores can be found at www.surreychampionship.play-cricket.com.
