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Match Reports
Saturday 3rd X1 versus Spencer (away) – Surrey Championship on 20th May 2006
Spencer 175 all out (K.Dawkins 5-42) in 50.5 overs Dulwich 154 for 9 (N.Arendse 36, S.Heath 29, T.Howe 26) in 50 overs
Dulwich visited Spencer for the third match of the campaign, and there was still no sign of any sun. At least the Dulwich captain won the toss for the first time this season, and numerous sweaters were evident as the visitors took the field.
A steep slope on the ground - not unlike Lord’s – combined with a strong cold wind made for difficult bowling conditions. Nevertheless, this was a far more positive start than the previous outing as new ball pair Neil Arendse (1 wicket) and Ijaz Ahmed (2 wickets) soon found some control. Fielding was not easy either and so some mitigation could be made for certain errors, but Ed Matten looked electric nevertheless, recording one catch, which would have been two if Arendse had not overstepped the popping crease in delivery.
Bowling changes were made, and once Stephen Heath and Keith Dawkins had entered the fray the rain began to fall. The umpires must have been close to taking the teams off the field on numerous occasions but elected to take the lead from the 1st XI league officials standing on the adjacent pitch who decided to persevere. Heath was extracting turn and was initially proving difficult to get away, picking up two wickets in his 15 over spell; Dawkins’ rhythm improved as his spell went on and wickets also fell at his end as Spencer tried to increase the scoring rate. All out for 175 in the 51st over (with Dawkins recording his first 5 wicket haul for the Club which included the scalp of Shak Farooqi who had returned to his former club) was probably a few more than what had been hoped for during the course of the innings, although certainly not unrealistic to chase down in the 50 overs available.
Spencer took the field after tea with the rain having stopped and undoubtedly had the easier of the fielding conditions. They took the old ball which was clearly going to be difficult to get away in the wet outfield and runs were not easy to come by. Nevertheless, wickets were falling too easily and 58 for 5 made something of a mockery of the strength of the batting line up on paper and of the need to have a solid start. Three ducks in the top six was always going to put us under pressure. On the positive side, though, Stephen Heath’s counter attacking at the top of the order reaped 29 useful runs before being given out LBW for the second week running; Tom Howe again punished the bad ball before succumbing to ex-Dulwich leg spinner Farooqi; Ed Matten was timing the ball superbly until he pulled a long-hop to the only fielder square of the wicket on the leg side.
It appeared that Dulwich’s only hope now was to save the game. However, Neil Arendse (36) and Jeff Mascarenhas (17 n.o.) put on 41 for the 8th wicket, with Arendse in particular powerfully hitting anything off line, which dragged Dulwich back into the game. The new ball was taken by Spencer, accounting for Arendse, and the lack of wickets in hand meant that the victory target of 176 was now beyond the away team.
The ninth wicket fell in the penultimate over, but number 11 Patrick Carnegy safely negotiated the one ball he had to face. The last over bowled by Farooqi to skipper Mascarenhas prompted one appeal – unsuccessful – otherwise it was uneventful. The game ended in a draw with Dulwich only taking a point but equally importantly preventing Spencer from taking 13.
The players retired for a very welcome hot shower, and the biggest question in the bar was whether the summer was likely to arrive at all this year.
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