Sat 26th July v Spencer

DULWICH 261-7 (53.5) beat SPENCER 258 (65.1) by 3 wickets

A superb innings of 90 by skipper Ollie Steele drove Dulwich to a thrilling three wicket victory in the last over in their AJ Sports Surrey Cricket Championship match at home to Spencer.

Spencer elected to bat on an overcast day. The Dulwich bowlers were much tighter than in recent matches and although the batsmen were able to advance their score steadily they were never able to take full control. Joe Payne took the first wicket with the score on 68 in the 19^th over, Harvey Booth took the second in the 24^th, and Spencer went into lunch on 88-2 after 25 overs. Acting captain Troy Johnson and Harry Allinson put on 75 in 19 overs for the third wicket before Johnson was bowled by Will Jenkins for 42 off 91 balls. A wicket for Ahmed Khan and two more for Jenkins, including that of Allinson, whose 55 had come off 68 balls, reduced Spencer to 187-6 after 52 overs. The seventh wicket pair managed to increase the scoring rate, putting on 53 in 8.2 overs, after which the last four wickets went down for 18 runs to see Spencer dismissed for 258 off the first ball of the 66^th over. Jenkins bowled a mammoth 23.1 overs to take 4-86, while Khan took 3-62 off 15, Booth 1-43 off 13 and Payne 1-30 off nine.

Dulwich were left with 54 overs to get the runs, but got off to a flying start as Khan and keeper KS Bharat put on 70 for the first wicket in just 9.1 overs. Bharat led the way with 41 off 28 balls before just failing to clear the mid on fielder. Tim Raglan fell two balls later, but Khan and Steele then added 23 in eight overs before Khan fell for 45, made off 60 balls. The Spencer spinners had now put a brake on the scoring, with Max Hunt conceding just 12 runs off his first seven overs for the wicket of Sam Seecharan for 2. Harrison Perry, with 20 off 36 balls, joined Steele in a stand of 32 in ten overs for the fifth wicket which took Dulwich to 152-5 after 34 overs, leaving a target of 107 off the last 20.

Jenkins now joined Steele and they restored the momentum with a stand of 69 in 13 overs for the sixth wicket. Jenkins completed a fine all-round performance, making 42 off just 33 balls. Kaif Ramzan joined Steele with 38 needed off seven overs and they took 17 off the next three to leave 21 required from the last four. But only six runs came off the next two overs to leave 15 still needed off the last two. Only one run came off the first five balls, but Steele hit the last ball onto the railway line to leave eight required from the final over. A single to Ramzan off the first ball and four to Steele off the second reduced the target to three, but Steele was then caught on the boundary off the third ball. Booth took a single off the fourth and Ramzan hit the fifth ball for four to take his own score to 18 off 20 and see his side to victory with one ball to spare. Steele’s match-winning 90 had come off 131 balls, and contained eight fours plus the six.

Dulwich take 24 points from this match. They remain tenth but have closed the gap behind Sunbury in ninth place to just 12 points. Coincidentally the two sides meet at Sunbury next week for a crucial bottom of the table clash. Dulwich will be looking to avenge the mauling that they received in the first match between the sides.

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