OXTED & LIMPSFIELD 110 (40.1) lost to DULWICH 146 (54.2) by 36 runs
After two matches when the only winner was the weather, Dulwich got back onto the field again and overcame a poor start to defeat Oxted & Limpsfield by 36 runs and remain at the top of Division 2 of the AJ Fordham Surrey Championship.
Jon Lodwick lost the toss for the first time this season, and Dulwich were put in to bat. They lost both openers in identical fashion, caught by Ned Lack at first slip off the bowling of Alfie Cutmore. Off spinner Lack then joined the attack as early as the ninth over, and struck with his fourth ball to reduce Dulwich to 15-3. James Schofield joined Frankie Brown and they began circumspectly, adding just 27 runs in the next 15 overs, before starting to accelerate. They had taken their stand to 52 off 22 overs when Cutmore returned to have Brown caught behind for 20, having faced 73 balls. This sparked a collapse in which five wickets fell for 22 runs in eleven overs to leave Dulwich reeling on 89-8 after 41 overs.
Schofield had survived the collapse and was now joined by 16 year old Ahmed Khan, and the pair added 45 in the next ten overs in the most spirited batting of the innings. The stand was broken when Schofield became Cutmore’s fifth wicket with the score on 134. He had made a valuable 62, made off 130 balls, equaling the highest Dulwich score of the season. Assan Crawford-Khan helped Ahmed Khan add another 12 runs for the last wicket before Ahmed was bowled for an enterprising 31, made off just 33 balls in marked contrast to his predecessors. The last two wickets had added 57 runs to lift the score to 146 and give the Dulwich bowlers something to defend.
They got off to a good start when Joe Murtagh, who had made 72 in the first contest between the sides, fell in Crawford-Khan’s second over. Tahir Khan, with 25 off 38 balls, then led an assault in company with Jack Lloyd that lifted the score to 40 in the 12th over. But both fell in consecutive overs by Brown, and he and Ahmed Khan then tightened the screw as the fourth wicket pair added just 24 in the next ten overs. Brown claimed his third wicket to break the stand, and Khan then took three in successive overs as Oxted declined from 65-3 to 75-7. Opening bowler Lodwick returned to take the eighth wicket with the score on 84, but Dulwich were then held up as Lack and skipper Luke Fisher looked to survive the remaining 14 overs and reach 121 for the winning draw. The pair had added 26 when Lodwick had Fisher caught behind to give keeper Michael Harms his fourth dismissal. Brown had Lack caught in the next over to dismiss Oxted for 110 with 4.5 overs to spare. Brown finished with 4-18 off 12.1 overs to give him figures of 7-33 in the two matches this season against these opponents, while Khan took 3-28 and Lodwick 2-47, both off 12 overs, and Crawford-Khan 1-12 off four.
This was the seventh time this season that Dulwich have dismissed the opposition for less than 120, and they remain in top place. But Old Wimbledonians and Bank of England also won on Saturday to leave all three still in contention for the two promotion places. Next week Dulwich have a home fixture against Chessington, who are currently ninth.