STOKE D’ABERNON 179 (40.4) drew with DULWICH 151-9 (51)
Link to scorecard https://dulwich.play-cricket.com/website/results/3753652
Dulwich travelled to Stoke D’Abernon for the first ever meeting between the sides in the Surrey Championship, but a middle order batting collapse left them clinging on for a losing draw in their Division 2 clash.
Dulwich put their opponents in to bat, and got off to a good start as a wicket apiece for acting skipper Jon Lodwick and Kamran Munawar reduced them to 28-2 after ten overs. After a slow start Tristan Caviet launched an assault on Lodwick and Simon Harwood before falling to the latter for 31 with the score on 54. The spinners took over and Alex Gledhill took two wickets for five runs in his first four overs to make it 73-5 after 21. Robbie Blackburn was promoted to attack the spinners, which he did successfully, facing just 25 balls in making 34 out of a partnership of 40 for the sixth wicket, before giving Gledhill a sharp return catch. Gledhill took his fourth wicket to make it 126-7, but at this point rain drove the players from the field. Eight overs were lost, reducing the match to 92 overs.
On the resumption Ben Zander continued the assault on the spinners, necessitating the recall of Lodwick, who dismissed him for 29 off 24 balls to make it 154-8. Mike Emslin also piled on the runs, scoring 29 not out off 28, before Munawar took the last two wickets in successive overs to dismiss them for 179. Gledhill finished with four wickets but was unusually expensive in conceding 47 runs off ten overs, Munawar had 3-31 off 9.4, and Lodwick 2-42 off 11, while keeper Will Bancroft held four catches. The innings had lasted just 40.4 overs, at a rate of 4.4 runs per over, leaving Dulwich 51 overs to make the runs.
Their innings got off to an unfortunate start when Alex Leyshon got a nasty lifter in the second over which he could only parry to backward point. Chris Purshouse and Robbie Catling then took the score to 38 when the latter was bowled off the last ball of the 13th over. Purshouse was joined by Matt Marfani, and their partnership of 46 in just 9.3 overs put Dulwich ahead of the required rate. But spinners Will Frost and Ian Hopton had taken over the attack, and they took the next five wickets between them as Dulwich declined from 84-2 to 117-7 in 13 overs. Marfani was first to go for 25, and Purshouse was the sixth man out, having made 62, the highest score for Dulwich this year. But numbers five, six and seven mustered just 14 runs between them.
Harwood thus joined Lodwick with 63 needed off 15.3 overs, but the pair added just 20 runs in the next 8.3. Hopton secured his fourth wicket, taking a return catch to dismiss Harwood for a dogged 10 off 36 balls. Munawar was lbw to the first ball of the 47th over, leaving Lodwick and Gledhill to survive 29 balls in steady drizzle for the draw. An edge to the slips was not taken, and Lodwick hit two fours off the last over to take his score to 24 and bring up a batting point as the losing draw was secured.
Dulwich thus take six points from this game and slip one place to sixth. Their next two games are against sides that are currently below them in the table, starting next week with a home fixture against ninth placed Farnham.