Dulwich 267-8 (63 overs) lost to Cobham Avorians 268-8 (51 overs)
A new look Dulwich side containing six debutants took the field at Cobham Avorians only to go down by two wickets in a tense finish off the last ball of the game. Dulwich were put into bat and lost new opener Faisal Shahid for a golden duck off the last ball of the first over. Zoheb Sharif and Chris Thompson withstood a lively opening spell by Scott Jarvis and Steve Hopley adding 109 for the second wicket. They both passed fifty in their first championship innings for the club.
Following Thompson’s dismissal for 60 and Sharif for 51, the momentum was sustained by the middle order with Dave Burton adding 24. Richard Farrow contributed 25, skipper Mark Kelly 35 whilst Raza Ali Dar made 37 off 29 balls including a huge six and Tom Savill chipped in with 17. In an innings reduced to 63 overs due to a couple of rain delays, Dulwich finished on an up beat 267-8.
The Avorians were left with 51 overs in reply but their innings got off to a shaky start as Tom Savill struck in his second and third overs, both wickets falling to slip catches. New South Wales opener Mark Higgs was fortunate to survive a missed catch in the slips also off Savill and he and keeper Rob Arthur forged a third wicket partnership of 121in 23 overs to put them up with the rate. Paceman Savill returned to dismiss Arthur for 40 and Steve Naylor for 8 but it took the return of Burton to dismiss Higgs for 95 (off just 94 balls).
Avorians now needed 84 off 16.2 overs but 28 apiece from Crawford (off 31 balls) and Jarvis off just 22 balls saw them close to the target. With ten wanted off three overs, new boy Raza Ali Dar coolly bowled a maiden whilst Sharif conceded two but had Jarvis caught. Eight were needed off the last over. Sam Smart, also with 28 runs ensured that his side reached the target off the last ball of the innings.
Tom Savill, a local school teacher finished with 4-48 on his debut whilst Gloucester squad player, Dave Burton carried on from last year with 3-54. Behind the wickets Eugene Strange made a welcome return with a confident performance on a difficult day. Skipper Mark Kelly was left with a number of positives from the day with a good team performance with excellent batting marred by a lack of penetration at vital times.
Whilst both sides were pleased to have played on a rain shortened day, Dulwich were saddened to be penalised one point for a slow over rate.
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