The run ends as East Molesey win on home turf

Victory at last eluded the Ashtead Stags as they finally lost their first long-game fixture, and their first loss in 7 weeks, as East Molesey claimed the 13 points with an 88 run victory at Graburn Way.

After winning the toss, and putting the home side in to bat, Ashtead were immediately looking like continuing their winning streak, as the top order of East Molesey crumbled under the combined pressure of Stuart Cope and Matt Friedlander, the opening bowlers. Henry Glynn was Friedlander’s victim here, as Zac Elkin took a decent catch to depose him for 1. Henry Nicholls, George Cairns and Simon Barrett all went the same way – bowled by Cope for 0, 8, and 7 respectively. East Molesey had reached just 17-4 in 11 overs, and were in deep trouble.

However, this was where the tide turned. The partnership of Nick Stevens and Ben Campbell started to put on runs, slowly at first, as they struggled to use the bowling of Cope and Friedlander to their advantage. Most of the runs at this stage were finding their way through the slip cordon, as the pressure continued to mount, especially with the changes in bowling to use Stewart Cameron and John Vaughan-Davies. By lunch, they have contributed 41 to the total as the score reached 58-4 after 29 overs.

After lunch, both batsmen came out with a much more positive attitude, and began to score runs much more freely. However, this fight was short-lived as both batsmen succumbed LBW to Friedlander in the first 10 overs of the session, as the return of the opening bowlers caused further problems for the middle order. At 73-6, Molesey looked to be on the ropes, and the pressure was on the captain, Paul Lawford, and young bat Andrew Westphal, to rescue the innings.

And they did so, with some careful batting early on, and then some power hitting in the altter stages, the pair managed to stem the flow of wickets as the spinners Sibley, Tom Deighton and Fred Davies could do nothing to prevent the runs accruing. When Westphal finally fell to Dom Sibley, caught by Zac Elkin for 33, the damage had been done. The work was continued in the final few overs by Lawford and Garry McMillan, as well as Ross Paxton, to get East Molesey to 209-8 from 64 overs, a score far higher than seemed possible at the mid-point of the innings.

The Ashtead reply started with a flourish, as Dom Sibley and Zac Elkin raced to 17-0 off 4 overs. However, this was to be a short-lived charge, as the wickets began to tumble – Elkin for 6, Andrew Roberts for 15, Cameron for 8 and Friedlander for 0. By this stage, Ashtead had reached 66-4 off 19 overs, had passed through the tea interval, and were struggling.

A long partnership then ensued between Sibley, who had remained solid throughout this period, and Ben Jeffrey, and together the pair continued to survive, even if the scoreboard moved very slowly during this period. The key was to stay at the wicket, but when Sibley chipped to short midwicket for 43, the tide of wickets began to flow, and both Jeffrey and Vaughan-Davies fell in very quick succession following this.

A late revival to try and salvage the innings was brought on by Cope, who showed both flair and power in crashing some late shots around the ground. However, the remaining batsmen were not able to stay with him, and Ashtead fell to 121 all out with just under 12 overs to go.

Next week sees the Ashtead Stags on the road again, this time to visit Beddington. A win would mean another crucial 13 points are added to the total, as Ashtead chase their promotion back to the ECB Premier League. Join us then.