A losing draw for the Stags on a rainy day

When July feels more like September, you know that’s a draw on the cards. This was the story as Ashtead played to a losing draw against bottom of the table Cranleigh in Round 10 of the 2023 Surrey Championship Premier Division.

Ashtead won the toss and, unsurprisingly, elected to field first – with a green wicket that would be good for bowling in the early overs, and a forecast that promised wet weather early on. And the early overs were indeed good for the hosts, with Ben Sidwell and Harri Aravinthan extracting plenty of swing with the new red ball. Several close shouts from both bowlers were turned down but Harri would eventually snare Lewis Bedford for 9. 19-1 looked good.

That brought South African international Clyde Fortuin to the crease, and the run rate immediately picked up. The bowlers appeared to have no answer as boundaries began to fly, creating chances but nothing seemed to go to hand. It would be just before drinks, at the end of the first hour, that the next wicket came – Sidwell trapping Jack Scriven LBW for 41. Shortly thereafter, down came the rain, with the visitors 99-2 off 20 and looking good.

It took two and a half hours for the weather to pass through, and the ground to be dry enough to play – a testament to the covers, the players, and especially the Ashtead groundstaff for their sterling work. The game was now reduced to 84 overs, with Cranleigh having 28 more overs to set a target. And boy, did they. Fortuin, joined by promising youngster George Ealham, went on the offensive. Lots of spare balls, not many chances. Fortuin would eventually go for 80, but the onslaught simply continued. 200, then 225, then the maximum batting points for 250 runs came up.

Hopes were high of a declaration, knowing Cranleigh had to bowl out the Stags to win, but the visitors were in no mood to pull out early as the overs ticked down. Tom Homes finally found a wicket, but it was not enough to stop the batting team brining up 300 in the last over.

306 off 35 was always going to be a stiff test but the winning draw target, at 228, was well within reach when the Stags wandered out to bat. Despite losing overseas pro Kieron Powell early in the chase, Surrey batters Ben Geddes and Dom Sibley made much of the early going. While Geddes would also find the quick bowling of George Barlow too much to deal with, Sibley continued making runs. Joined by Harri Aravinthan, the hosts reached 80-3 off 18 at the mid-time drinks interval.

Losing Sibley for a well-made 53 straight after the break wasn’t in the plan, but Ashtead bats deep and with Harri settled, the momentum was with the batters. 10 overs to go, 90 for the winning draw. Definitely still on.

All that came to an end with a triple strike across two overs, the returning Barlow and George Ealham (yes, him again) removing both Aravinthan brothers and Sam Homes to leave Ashtead on 152-7. The onus for the final 7 overs would be on survival, and Conor Young, so often the Stags’ finisher, turned into its chief defender. Ashtead ended their 35 overs on 184-8, claiming 4 points from the day. Cranleigh, for their part, ended on 13 points, their best day of the season so far.

Ashtead continue to sit 9th in the league table, but with other teams not scoring big points around them, the lower order fight got even closer. The next match for Ashtead is another red-ball encounter, this time visiting Guildford. The limited overs fixture was a rain-affected low-scoring thriller, taken by the opposition by two wickets, but Ashtead won the previous long-fixture match between the teams (in 2019) by 5 wickets. Guildford sit second in the league table, having a fantastic season thus far.

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.