DULWICH.43-1 (8.4) beat DORKING 42 (21) by 9 wickets
Having secured promotion from Division 2 of the AJ Fordham Surrey Championship last week, Dulwich demolished Dorking for just 42 runs in their final match to ensure that they would finish as the divisional champions.
Dulwich invited their opponents to bat, knowing that five wickets would be enough to secure the Championship. But they cannot have expected to achieve this in just 6.3 overs. Three of the first four batsmen gave catching practice to Nick Gunning at mid-on, while former Dulwich player Kamran Munawar edged to Chris Purshouse at slip. The fifth dismissal came via a catch at midwicket by 16 year old Jonty Postlewhite, making his first team debut. The first five wickets had gone down with just 16 runs on the board. Four of these wickets had been taken by Assan Crawford-Khan, who added two more as he bowled his ten overs straight through to finish with 6-19. His fellow opener Sam Ellison came off after bowling seven overs with figures of 1-12, and gave way to skipper Jon Lodwick who bowled three overs to take 2-4. Ahmed Khan came on for the 21st over and took the last wicket. Whereas the first five wickets were all caught, the last five were bowled as the lower order displayed varying degrees of ineptitude. Kieran Corbett, who went in at number ten after arriving late, was the only batsman to make double figures, finishing with 11 not out.
Corbett and Munawar then opened the bowling, but were unable to make a breakthrough against Purshouse and Ollie Steele. The pair added 37 for the first wicket before Purshouse fell leg before to the spin of Chris Weill for 24. Steele knocked off the next six runs to finish unbeaten with 18 and secure a nine wicket victory in just 8.4 overs.
The main reason for Dulwich’s success this season was the all-round prowess of their attack. This was the tenth time in 16 completed matches that they had dismissed the opposition for less than 120. Leg spinner Ahmed Khan, with 27 wickets at 14.04, was the leading wicket taker at the age of just 16. Five other bowlers took between 16 and 23 wickets.
Dulwich will be looking forward to tougher challenges next season as they seek to consolidate their place in Division 1.