Sat 2nd August v Sunbury

SUNBURY 286-9 (51.5) beat DULWICH 285 (64.3) by 1 wicket

Dulwich had their second close finish in successive weeks in the AJ Sports Surrey Cricket Championship, but this time they lost their crucial match at Sunbury by just one wicket.

Dulwich were put in to bat, but got off to a good start as Ahmed Khan and Sam Seecharan put on 40 for the first wicket in ten overs before Seecharan fell for 21 off 29 balls. Tim Raglan joined Khan in a stand of 53 in ten overs for the second wicket before also falling for 21, off 36 balls. Khan and skipper Ollie Steele then added 78 in 16 overs for the third wicket before Khan fell for 90. This was his highest score in the Championship and had come off just 94 balls. Steele went on to his own half-century before becoming the fifth wicket to fall with the score on 219 in the 48^th over, having made 55 off 91 balls. Left arm spinner Vishal Manro then worked his way through the rest of the batting to take 6-87 off 21.3 overs. He was held up by Kaif Ramzan, who launched a familiar late assault which saw him score 36 off 30 balls, including all 19 in a last wicket partnership with Joe Payne, before being last man out with the score on 285 after 64.3 overs.  

Sunbury had 55 overs to get the runs, and opened up with skipper Rajan Soni and Australian overseas player Hugh Weibgem, the same pair who had added 157 together in the first match between the sides. This time Will Jenkins had Soni caught at slip for 10 with the score on 31, but Weibgem continued as before. He added 106 in 15 overs for the second wicket with Stuart Van der Merwe, who made 42, followed by stands of 24 for the third wicket and 41 for the fourth. He reached his second hundred against Dulwich before being caught at midwicket off Harvey Booth for 105, off just 88 balls, to make it 202-4 in the 34^th over.

Three more wickets then reduced Sunbury to 237-7 to raise Dulwich hopes of victory. But they were thwarted by an eighth wicket partnership of 45 by Aditya Prakasan and Kevin Smith which raised the score to 282. Smith was then caught on the boundary off Khan going for the winning hit, and Booth took a return catch in the next over to remove Prakasan on the same score. This brought the last man in with four still wanted, but he hit his third ball to the boundary to secure a one wicket victory. The wickets were shared around, with Khan taking three, Booth and Jenkins two each, and Ramzan and newcomer Will Phillips one each.

This defeat leaves Dulwich at the foot of the table, 24 points behind Sunbury who climb to eighth. Next week the format reverts to 50 overs a side and Dulwich have a home fixture against Sutton, who have led the table for most of the campaign, but have now slipped to second.