DULWICH 111-3 (35) beat WALTON ON THAMES 108 (43.5) by 7 wickets
A depleted Dulwich side shook off the absence of a number of first team regulars to secure a seven wicket victory in their AJ Fordham Surrey Championship Division 2 match against Walton on Thames.
Dulwich invited their opponents to bat, and reaped their first reward as early as the second over when the visiting skipper steered Felix Allocca’s first ball into the safe hands of Hugo Peterson at second slip. Peterson then struck with a wicket in his second over and another in his fifth to reduce Walton to 16-3 after nine overs. Peterson, Nick Gunning and Alex Gledhill maintained the pressure as the score limped to 45 in the 23rd over when Gledhill took the fourth wicket. A stand of 35 in ten overs by James Madoc-Jones and Jamie Mann steadied the ship, and at 80-4 in the 33rd over Walton seemed to be on the verge of setting a decent score. But Madoc-Jones’s dismissal for 39, caught behind off Peterson, sparked a collapse in which the last six wickets fell in 13 overs for just 28 runs. Peterson took another to finish with 4-35 off his permitted 14 overs, while 16 year old leg spinner Ahmed Khan dismantled the lower order to finish with 4-29 off 11.5. Keeper Ollie Steele took five catches, three off Peterson and two off Khan. Walton were all out for 108 in the 44th over.
With several of their regular top order unavailable, the Dulwich batting had an unfamiliar look, but they proved equal to the task. Steele and acting skipper Chris Purshouse found scoring difficult against the Walton seamers, but hung in to post 27 in 12 overs for the first wicket before Steele fell for a dogged 11 off 44 balls. Purshouse followed three overs later with the score on 39, having made 19 off 38 balls. This brought together Lachlan Skinner and George Pearson, both playing just their second first team game of the season, who combined for the highest stand of the match. Walton used eight bowlers in the innings, but their fielders could not give them the support they needed as the pair added 67 in 19.2 overs for the third wicket. Pearson fell for 19 off 56 balls with just three runs needed for victory. Skinner scored the winning boundary to finish unbeaten with 42, off 71 balls, his second valuable contribution in successive weeks. Dulwich needed just 35 overs to complete the victory.
Dulwich have now won six of their first eight matches, and climb to the top of the Division 2 table. The return of the regular players will make selection unusually complicated next week, when the team travels to Dorking, who are currently fourth.