Sat 10th May - 1st XI v Esher

ESHER 312 (49.1) lost to DULWICH 318-8 (50) by 6 runs

Dulwich completed their first match since 2008 in the Premier Division of the AJ Sports Surrey Championship with a thrilling victory at Esher by six runs in the final over.

Dulwich’s imposing total of 318 was built around a magnificent innings of 134 by their new overseas signing, Indian test player KS Bharat. Good bowling by the Esher pace men made scoring difficult in the early stages, and the first three wickets went down in 12.1 overs for just 31 runs. Sam Seecharan started the fightback, making 19 off 20 balls, before falling with the score on 64 in the 17th over. Bharat, who had come in at the fall of the first wicket with the score on 6, had resisted gamely, and had so far taken 41 balls to reach 21. He was now joined by fellow newcomer Dale Shaw, and the pair accelerated rapidly to add 104 in 15 overs for the fifth wicket before Shaw fell for 45 off 53 balls. This brought in Will Jenkins, who gave solid support as Bharat started to take the attack apart. The pair had added 86 in nine overs when Bharat fell. His first 50 had taken 65 balls, but the second needed only 28 and his 134 came off 108. He had hit 17 fours and five sixes.

Ahmed Khan joined Jenkins with the score on 255-6 with 8.5 overs remaining. Jenkins went on to 36 off 34 balls, Khan 18 off 18, and Kaif Ramzan smashed 33 not out off 24 balls to take the total to 318-8 after 50 overs, a remarkable recovery after being 65-4.

The Esher reply was launched by Australian overseas player Teague Wyllie, who smashed 33 off 19 balls before falling to a third newcomer, Joe Payne, with the score on 40. Payne struck again in his next over to make it 42-2 after eight overs. This brought in Don Butchart to join former Glamorgan cricketer Craig Meschede, but tight bowling by Payne, Jenkins and Ramzan restricted the batsmen to just 36 runs in ten overs before Meschede fell to Ramzan for 27, having faced 51 balls. This brought in left hander David Brent, who went for his shots from the outset. Butchart fell for 45 off 69 balls, but Brent raced to 87 off just 58 balls, before becoming the sixth wicket to fall with the score on 218 after 37.3 overs.

Esher still needed 101 from 12.3 overs, but a dynamic innings of 54 off just 31 balls by Freddie Harrison kept the runs flowing until he was the ninth wicket to fall with the score on 288. This left numbers ten and eleven to get 31 runs off 23 balls, but 14 came off the rest of the 47th over and ten off the next two, to leave just seven runs required from the final over. But the last man hit the ball straight to a fielder and tried to take a single off the first ball, to be easily run out and give Dulwich victory by six runs. Payne and Jenkins finished with three wickets each, Ramzan took two and Seecharran one.

Dulwich thus started their Premier Division campaign with a victory which will hopefully set them up nicely for the rest of the season. Next week they have a home fixture against Reigate Priory, who lost their first match to Sutton.