Normandy victorious in another tight fixture

Another close finish, another week of heartache. This was the story of Round 3 of the 2023 Surrey Championship Premier League, as Ashtead lost by 34 runs in a hard-fought fixture at mercurial talents Normandy.

The hosts won the toss and elected to make first use of a surface that looked good, on a large ground that required power to find its boundaries. And it would be the Stags that were immediately in the ascendency, with Surrey star Nick Kimber prising out the important wicket of Ollie Batchelor in the very first over.

Wickets would continue to fall at regular intervals throughout the opening salvos, as Ashtead’s four-man pace attack harried the batters into rash shots or were simply beaten by the pace and accuracy of the bowling. Runs, however, also flowed freely as the batters took their chances – chief among them Oskar Kolk, who holed out to the short catchers for a well-made 41. After 18 overs, Normandy were 90-4 and honours were even.

At this point, the spinners were introduced to the attack, this week being the brothers Tom and Sam Homes. Their bowling lowered the scoring rate, added heaps of pressure, and ensured that a reaction would come. It needed a moment of magic to break the deadlock – and Ben Sidwell, returning to the side for the first time in 2023, provided it with an outstanding run out – conjuring a direct hit from the deep with a bullet of a throw.

With the wickets beginning to fall again, it was Normandy’s pro Nathan Sowter that held the rest of the innings together. He would make his half-century and then fall the very next ball, with Sam Homes taking a sharp return catch. The tail wagged a little but could not hold off the inevitable. Ashtead completed the task by bowling out Normandy for 168 with more than 5 overs to spare.

The chase began with fiery hitting, but early wickets were again to fall, and the spinners then turned the screw. Batters came and went, with some promise shown (particularly by Harri Aravinthan and Conor Young, who would both be given out LBW to Sowter, and young Ragu Aravinthan, who holed out after some mature strokeplay). At 80-7 after 22 overs, all seemed lost.

But the Stags were not quite finished yet. Time was on their side, and batting time would be the recipe to try and salvage victory. Paul Harrison, the erstwhile campaigner, and Tom Homes, maturing as a batter alongside his fine bowling, ground out a partnership, seeing off the strike bowlers and rotating strike where possible. 80 to win became 70, then 60, then 50, With 9 overs to go, the Stags needed 42 and it seemed that the win was still on.

It was not to be, sadly, as the departure of Homes for a well-made 12 left too much for the final partnership to do. Harrison would be the last man out, hitting a good ball high into the sky for Batchelor, who started the game, to finish it with a catch. 34 runs was the final margin, with 35 balls to spare.

This result sees Ashtead slip to 9th in the table, as one of three teams yet to win a match in this year’s league. Next week sees Sunbury travel to Woodfield Lane for the last of the opening set of limited overs fixtures. Sunbury, sitting 4th in the table, were comprehensively beaten by the Stags in last year’s fixture (103 runs was the margin) but have started 2023 well and will be tough opponents. Ashtead then travel to Esher on Bank Holiday Monday for Rounds 2 and 3 of this year’s T20 Cup.

A reminder that you can follow Ashtead CC’s 1st XI matches via our Twitter (@ashteadcc), 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.