Ashtead take the winning draw as rain spoils a great finish

The rain had the last laugh, as Ashtead secured a vital winning draw at league high-flyers Guildford in Round 11 of the 2023 Surrey Championship Premier Division.

Rain was the early theme of the day, as heavy early showers and standing water delayed the start, although credit to the Guildford groundstaff for their hard work in making play possible. The 120 overs were reduced to 87, with the side batting first having a maximum of 49.

Ashtead won the toss (that’s becoming a familiar refrain, 7 in a row now) and elected to field first, on a pitch that wouldn’t offer too much support for either batter or bowler, but at a ground that traditionally is high scoring. And the hosts would come out of the blocks firing on all cylinders, as Ben Sidwell and Harri Aravinthan found the hard, new red ball departing to the boundary all too regularly. Despite this, you could feel that the Stags were in the game and that rang true with a double strike from Sidwell to remove both openers in consecutive overs. 70-2. Game on.

The introduction of the Sam’s, Homes and Hunt, heralded a change of tack. Homes looked the more threatening, but went for runs, whilst Hunt was able to gain something of a strangle on the run scoring. Homes would remove the dangerous National Counties player Oli Soames for 18, but the scoreboard would continue to tick over. Introducing the usually lethal Tom Homes to the attack didn’t find the required breakthrough. It would take a piece of fielding magic from Senura Jayasinghe to raise Ashtead’s spirits, breaking a 61-run partnership to leave the total at 161-4 with 15 overs left.

Guildford didn’t use all that time – as they were able to add another 103 runs in 11 overs. Some of those runs were from reckless abandon, but many were the result of well-placed strokes and power hitting. The return of Sidwell gathered a crucial fifth wickets for Ashtead (and the point that came with it) but the hosts felt confident enough to declare four overs early on 264.

Chasing that target in 43 overs was always going to be a major challenge, but the Stags immediately showed their intent as Kieron Powell put the first ball of the innings back over the bowler’s head for 6. Despite losing Powell for 23 early in the chase, the Aravinthan brothers showed why they have played county cricket at junior and 2nd XI level by taking the fight to the bowling.

It would take the Guildford captain to come into the attack for the next wicket to fall, young Ragu trapped LBW for 40 off just 31 balls. That brought Conor Young to the crease, and together this pair matched power with accuracy, technique and patience, hitting the bad balls and rotating the strike. At the mid-way drinks, the equation was now 130 required, from 126 balls, with 8 wickets remaining.

By 6:40, that equation had got even better for the visitors, now needing 89 off 84 balls, still with those 8 wickets in hand, despite some obvious stiffness and soreness for Harri – proving you don’t need to run if you can find the boundary rope! Then the rain intervened again, taking four overs off the chase. This is the long format, so the target is unchanged. Now the Stags need 89 from 60 balls.

And they gave it a good go. Three wickets, including Harri for a fantastic 69, saw Ashtead fall behind the rate required for the winning draw (and 6 points rather than 2), but Conor and Tom Homes saw the team past that point with four balls to spare. The Stags finished on 236 for 5, 29 runs short of a famous victory, and wondering what might have been if not for the late shower.

Ashtead now sit 8th in the league table, moving out of the relegation zone for the first time in over a month, but with just 10 points covering 6th to 9th. The next match for Ashtead is another red-ball encounter, this time hosting Normandy at Woodfield Lane. The limited overs fixture was a low scoring match won by the hosts in May, and the 2022 match ended in a rain-affected winning draw.

You can follow Ashtead CC’s 1st XI matches live on our website (www.ashtead.play-cricket.com) or at our YouTube channel (Ashtead Cricket Club Live). We look forward to next week! Join us then.