Sat 27th June - 1st XI v Malden Wanderers

DULWICH 174-5 (45.2) beat MALDEN WANDERERS 171 (64.2) by 5 wickets

Dulwich had the better of a fluctuating match against Malden Wanderers in Division 1 of the M.Zaidi & Co. Surrey Cricket Championship, and emerged victorious by five wickets.

Malden elected to bat on another very hot and sultry day, but struggled to get going against challenging bowling by Joe Payne and Tommy Clout. Payne took the crucial wicket of Zac Elkin in his second over, in an opening spell of five overs that went for just four runs. Clout took two wickets in his sixth over, by which time Malden had managed to score just 14 runs off eleven overs. He took another in the fifteenth and came off with figures of 3-11 off ten overs. Harvey Booth, Dan Empson and Will O’Donnell kept up the pressure and Malden went in to lunch having scored only 41-4 off 27 overs. Payne and Clout resumed the attack after the interval and Clout took two more wickets, including that of skipper Andrew Carson who had grafted for 87 balls for 24. At this stage Clout had taken 5-13 off 12.3 overs.

Ben Van Emden thus came in with the score on 52-6 in the 33^rd over and was the first batsman to take the attack to the bowlers. He took part in stands of 56 in 17 overs for the seventh wicket, 34 in eight overs for the eighth and 19 in four overs for the ninth before becoming O’Donnell’s third wicket to make it 161-9 in the 62^nd over. He had made 68 off 92 balls, and had given his bowlers something to defend. Lucas Parry took the last wicket three overs later to see Malden dismissed for 171 off 64.2 overs, leaving Dulwich 55 overs to get the runs. Clout finished with 5-46 off 19 overs, his first five wicket haul for the club. O’Donnell took 3-51 off 16, while skipper Ollie Steele held three catches behind the stumps.  

The Dulwich reply started badly when James Schofield struck a boundary but was then bowled in the first over. Jacob Rhodes was joined by O’Donnell and together they put on 76 in 20 overs for the second wicket. None of the three Malden seamers could emulate their Dulwich counterparts as the score mounted, and it took the introduction of spinner Van Emden to break the stand, dismissing Rhodes for 36, off 74 balls. He followed up with the wickets of Steele, Parry and Harrison Perry to reduce Dulwich to 117-5 in the 33^rd over.

O’Donnell was now joined by Freddie Skelton in only his second match for the first team. Together they added 57 in 13 overs in an unbroken sixth wicket partnership. Skelton took the lead and made 33 off 62 balls, and the score was also boosted by ten byes, the first of the match. O’Donnell finished on 71 not out off 97 balls, the fifth time he has scored more than 60 this season, and he has now amassed 474 runs at an average of 79. Van Emden continued to wheel away for the rest of the innings but was unable to make a further breakthrough and completed an impressive all-round performance with 4-36 off 13 overs. Dulwich reached their target with 9.4 overs to spare.

Dulwich rise one place to sixth in the table, 16 points ahead of Weybridge in seventh place. Coincidentally the two sides meet at Weybridge next week.