OLD RUTLISHIANS 82 (32.5) lost to DULWICH 88-5 (37.2) by 5 wickets
Dulwich continued their winning run with a five wicket victory in a low scoring match on a cold autumnal day at Old Rutlishians, in group 8 of the regionalized AJ Fordham Sports & Fuller’s Brewery Challenge Cup.
Old Rutlishians chose to bat first on a slow pitch, but got off to a poor start when skipper Jon Lodwick and Sam Ellison each took a wicket in his second over. Lodwick picked up a second wicket in his opening spell of 2-19 off six overs, while Ellison took two more in bowling his eight overs straight through to return the excellent figures of 3-15. Left arm spinner Frankie Brown also struck in his second over to reduce the hosts to 34-6 in the 15th over. Ross Trimmings and skipper Michael Jones then put on 28 for the 7th wicket, the highest stand of the innings. Trimmings was caught off leg-spinner Ahmed Khan, who took 1-17 off his eight overs. Brown had meanwhile come off after five overs with figures of 1-8. He was replaced by fellow slow left-armer Ben Swanson, who bowled Jones for 19, the highest score of the innings, and followed up with the last two wickets to finish with 3-18 off 5.5 overs. Old Rutlishians were dismissed for 82 in the 33rd over.
With regular opener Chris Purshouse injuring his hand in the field Nick Gunning stepped into the breach, but fell to the first ball of the fourth over. By this time however eight byes in the first over and five wides in the next two had lifted the score to 13 with neither batsman having scored a run. Brown joined George Taylor-Yeates, but neither of them found scoring easy against the Khan brothers, with Asad bowling eight overs for just six runs, and Sameer conceding 15 off his eight. Sameer also claimed the wickets of Taylor-Yeates, who had resisted for 46 balls in scoring 4, and Michael Harms without scoring in the same over. Dulwich were thus reduced to 27-3 after 14 overs, with only seven runs having come from the bat. Ellison also made a slow start but gradually increased the tempo, making 26 off 57 balls, the highest score of the match, out of a stand of 35 with Brown. Robbie Keaton lost patience after facing eight balls without scoring, both wickets falling to Trimmings, who conceded just 17 runs off his eight overs. Brown was joined by Will Bancroft with the score on 66-5 after 32.3 overs, but the pair required just four overs to level the scores, and Bancroft ended the match with a six. Brown remained unbeaten, having batted for two hours and faced 93 balls for his crucial innings of 24.
Dulwich thus completed their fourth successive victory, and remain in second place. Their final match is at home to first division Malden Wanderers, who have moved into third place. Victory would give Dulwich an outside chance of overhauling Spencer to top the group should the latter fail to win their last match.