Dulwich 241-6 (55 overs) drew with Normandy 221-9 (50 overs)
Jimmy Daley hit his third century of the season to give Dulwich control of their match at Normandy, only to see it stolen away by a remarkable unbeaten last wicket stand of 67 which gave the home side an unexpected winning draw and the four points which kept them in the Premier Division.
Dulwich chose to bat against a makeshift opening attack, but lost their first two wickets for 34 within 12 overs. Dai Williams joined Daley in a partnership of 118 for the third wicket before being dismissed for 47. Daley and Richard Farrow then added 70 in only 8.2 overs for the fourth wicket. Farrow’s dismissal for 30, made off only 27 balls, was followed in the next over by Daley, whose chanceless 128 off 160 balls took his aggregate in 10 matches to 492 at an average of 54.66. Dulwich closed on 241-6 in their permitted 55 overs.
Normandy needed to score at around 4.4 runs per over to secure the winning draw, but quickly fell behind the rate as Dave Burton and Arshad Iftikhar took a wicket each to reduce them to 31-2 in the 9th over. James Robson and Aussie Anthony Clark seemed to be emulating Dulwich’s third wicket stand, but veteran off spinner Graeme Hough broke it with the score on 82, having Robson stumped by Ryan Birbeck for 31. This sparked a collapse in which 6 wickets fell for 44 runs in 13 overs, with Hough and Burton each claiming 3 victims. With 94 needed for the winning draw in 15 overs and only two wickets standing Normandy looked doomed, but ‘keeper Stuart Hampton went for the runs from the start, adding 28 with Richard Mansell in 5.3 overs. Nick Brown bowled Mansell after 40 overs and a Dulwich victory looked assured, but Junior Simpson had other ideas. Simpson and Hampton added 67 in the remaining 9.3 overs to secure an unlikely 4 points which ensured their survival and doomed Esher to relegation. Hampton’s 58 came off 54 balls, while Simpson had 26 off 30, as Dulwich were left to regret two missed chances. Burton took 4-103 to take his total for the season to 41, while Hough finished with 3-53.
Dulwich gained one point from a match they looked like winning until the last half-an-hour, to finish in 7th place in the Premier League of the Shepherd Neame sponsored Surrey Championship. Perhaps a surprising position as the club had been in the top five for the past few weeks. Taking the wider view the club has three teams in the top flight in Surrey as the second team finished fourth in their Premier league whilst the third team also finished seventh in their Premier league.
With the colts teams playing so well, the future for the young Dulwich team seems bright!
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