Sat28th June - 1st XI v Banstead

BANSTEAD 220-2 (47.1) beat DULWICH 219 (66) by 8 wickets

Dulwich travelled to Banstead in the Premier Division of the AJ Sports Surrey Cricket Championship, but went down to defeat by eight wickets.

Dulwich elected to bat, but lost their first wicket in the third over. Harrison Perry then shored up one end while batsmen came and went to a mixture of pace and spin at the other. Skipper Ollie Steele contributed 17 off 39 balls, and KS Bharat started promisingly with 21 off 25, but both were caught behind, and the fourth wicket fell soon afterwards. Perry was the fifth to go, having grafted uncharacteristically for 37 off 92 balls, and another wicket fell to the next ball to make it 96-6 in the 37th over.

This brought in Ahmed Khan to join Tim Raglan, and together they put on 63 in 14 overs for the seventh wicket. Raglan played the supporting role, before being dismissed for 30, off 76 balls, with the score on 159. Khan continued to his first half-century of the season in a partnership of 17 for the eighth wicket with Harvey Booth. A further stand of 25 for the ninth with Joe Payne lifted the score to 201 in the 62nd over, and ended when Khan was dismissed for 66, off 74 balls. The last wicket pair took the score to 219 whereupon Felix Watson-Smyth fell to the last ball of their permitted 66 overs, leaving Payne unbeaten with 22.

Wimbledon had 54 overs to get the runs. They started poorly, with Booth taking the first wicket in his second over with just two runs on the board. But this brought in Arjun Gill. With no time pressure he was able to pace his innings to score 123 not out off 128 balls. He was joined in a stand of 120 in 28 overs for the second wicket with Ayush Patel, who made 53 off 105 balls before falling to Khan. Patrick Rowe, who scored 33 not out off 47 balls, then joined Gill in an unbeaten partnership of 98 in 17 overs for the third wicket to see their side home. Watson-Smyth opened the bowling and conceded just 29 runs in his first ten over spell, while Khan took 1-38 off twelve. But none of the other bowlers could show the same degree of accuracy, and the target was reached with 6.5 overs to spare.

Dulwich take just three batting points from this match and slip to the foot of the table. Next week they have a home fixture against reigning champions East Molesey, who are currently fourth.