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Saturday Third X1 Match Reports
Esher away on 16th June 2007 in the Surrey Championship
Dulwich 236 allout in 35.5 overs (G.Carveth 75, A.Saeed 32, O.Shokoya 31) Esher 158 all out Result: Won by 78 runs After coming off a disappointing result to league leaders Wimbledon a week previous, the lads were determined to put in a stronger showing against the struggling Esher side despite the impending inclement weather. The skipper once again failed to convert solid mid-week tossing form into a Saturday result and we were sent in to bat. It was clear that the game plan had to be, post a sizable first innings total before a preferably early declaration, minimising the chance of missing out on the 13 points due to poor weather which was bound to plague the day’s play. The top three soon set the match up for the Dogs with openers Amer Saeed (32) and Ian Wheaton (28) and match high batsmen and first drop Grant Carveth (75) all scoring at a good rate and putting Esher firmly on the back foot despite the persistent showers that caused a couple of early breaks in play. Carveth was particular devastating to the Esher bowling line-up making full use of a short square boundary off both front and back foot. From there the batting deteriorated slightly with Heath (3) and South (15) both failing to make the most of the opportunities presented by the inexperienced attack. However the low light of the innings was unquestionably the dismissal of Brett Casson to what appeared to be a pre-pubescent child (who was later found to be as old as 13 years of age). Mr Casson’s humiliation was slightly eased later in the innings by team-mate Obafemi Shokoya (31) plunging to a similar feat – albeit with a significantly more impressive score to his name. Some late hitting from the skipper (Jeff Mascarenhas – 24) helped the total to an impressive 236 off 35.5 overs. The boys felt that this was a more than defendable total against what appeared to be a severely depleted Esher side, but a disciplined performance would be require get the team back into the winners circle especially given the potential of an early finish due to the persistent precipitation. After breaking through with an early wicket, the team struggled slightly against their left-handed number 3 who had a penchant for the short cow-corner boundary. After suffering a couple of blows from the number three, Howard Allen (2/34) had the last laugh claiming the lefty, quickly followed by the number four before Esher steadied. At one stage getting to approximately 120 for 3 with victory for the rank outsiders seeming plausible, with one of the openers looking solid on 70 and its team mate capable of providing dower defence at the other end. The team was required to focus its energy and focus they did, somewhat assisted by the fortunes of an uncoordinated left armer got lucky and claimed three quick wickets including the opener for 80. When Kanak ‘The Ledge’ Patel (3/42) was brought back to the bowling crease to toy with the tail, the game was all but over. Eventually Esher finished all out for 158, with 19 overs remaining in the day, leaving the Dulwich lads to enjoy some hard earned brews and lament the number of clichés used in this authors match report…
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