DULWICH 140 (39.3) beat MALDEN WANDERERS 127 (39) by 13 runs
Dulwich completed their truncated season in group 8 of the regionalized AJ Fordham Sports & Fuller’s Brewery Challenge Cup, taking the last seven wickets for 30 runs to secure a 13 run victory over First Division Malden Wanderers.
Dulwich elected to bat, but got off to a bad start when Chris Purshouse was dismissed without scoring in the third over with just four runs on the board. Frankie Brown joined 15 year old Robbie Keaton, and together they added 68 for the second wicket in 16 overs, in what was to prove comfortably the highest partnership of the match. Brown’s dismissal for 30, off 41 balls, was followed next ball by Sam Ellison, who was unlucky to see the ball trickle onto the stumps. Keaton fell in the next over for 29, his highest score for the first team, having faced 72 balls. Three wickets had fallen with the score on 72, and keeper Michael Harms followed five runs later to make it 77-5 after 24.3 overs. Will Bancroft and Nick Gunning added 28 for the sixth wicket before Bancroft was run out for 23. Gunning fell for 9, but skipper Jon Lodwick added 11 and Simon Harwood 10 before two more run outs saw the innings close on a seemingly inadequate 140 in the final over.
Lodwick and Harwood opened the bowling, and Harwood struck in both his third and fifth overs, removing both openers to reduce the visitors to 30-2 in the tenth over. The pace men gave way to spinners Ben Swanson and Ahmed Khan, who forced the third wicket pair to use up 16 overs in adding 42 before Swanson had Pete Young lbw for 18. Alex Baldwin was joined by Alex Redmayne, and together they took the score to 97-3 in the 31st over when Baldwin was run out having made 37, the highest score of the match, off 65 balls. Four overs later Redmayne was also run out for 17, Ellison picked up his first wicket two balls later, and Brown took two wickets in the next over. Malden had lost four wickets for four runs in two overs, to decline from 108-4 to 112-8. 29 runs were still needed off four overs, but this proved too much for the tail enders as they were dismissed for 127 off the last ball of the penultimate over.
Ellison took those last two wickets to finish with 3-27 off six overs, while Brown had 2-13 off five. Harwood had taken 2-18 off six, while Swanson with 1-21 off eight, and 15 year old Khan, who had conceded just 23 off seven, had played a vital role in keeping the batsmen in check during the middle overs. All three of Ellison’s wickets were caught by Bancroft, who was also responsible for the run out of Redmayne.
Dulwich thus recorded their fifth consecutive victory to finish second in the group. In the process they had beaten two sides who normally play in a higher division. Three 15 year olds have been regular members of the side, all of whom have made valuable contributions, and two others from the same age group have also made their debuts this year. This should stand the Club in good stead next year, when hopefully the Championship set-up will be able to return to normal.