Guildford win a run-fest, but Ashtead takes 6 points

320 runs should’ve been enough. But it wasn’t. Guildford pulled off an outstanding chase to beat Ashtead by 4 wickets in Round 11 of the 2017 Surrey Championship Premier Division.

Ashtead won the toss, and elected to make first use of a track that seemed bowler-friendly, and with overhead conditions conducive to swing bowling early in the innings. And the bowlers were to strike first, with power batsman Lalit Bose losing a stump in the second over.

Following that, the Stags regrouped with another solid innings from Guy Harper, and a slight return to form for Michael Sanderson. His runs, while coming mostly through the slip cordon, ended a disconcerting run of single figure scores as the total continued to rise. Guildford realised that the seam attack was not penetrating, and with the partnership now at 62, a breakthrough was desperately needed. In came spin, and out went Sanderson, caught behind for 25.

This brought the overseas superstar Mahesh Rawat to the middle. Well atop the run charts this year, he had failed to reach 50 just three times in his opening 10 innings. Despite a slightly shaky start, he decided to play the long game, and was uncharacteristically slow through to the lunch interval.

His slowness was likely down to the loss of Harper, also caught behind, for 47. Ben Geddes, a prodigious talent for the future, was similarly slow to get going. When lunch arrived, the Stags were 126-3 after 33.

A slightly longer lunch interval than usual due to some rain saw the Ashtead innings reduced by 2 overs, to a maximum of 64. Geddes departed directly after the break, caught well by Nathan Tilley for 15. Harry Williams, promoted to 6, then provided some excellent support work for Mahesh. He hit the throttle straight after the break, and gained 20 runs in 12 balls to bring up another half-century, from 75 balls total.

The introduction of Bradley Erasmus’ medium pace provided a calming effect, but there was no stopping Rawat, who swiped and cut and drove and smashed. He eventually brought up his third century of the league campaign off just 119 balls. He then proceeded to run out Williams for 37.

The end of the innings was full of the power of John Vaughan-Davies, who rediscovered the younger man inside him and put on 39 from just 32 balls to force the total up to a mighty 319 off their 64. Guildford would have 52 overs to respond.

Two early wickets for Harshil Patel saw the Stags well in the ascendency, but they hadn’t counted on the extraordinary talents of Will Jacks. The England U19 batsman showed why he has the talent to cut it at that level, with some monster 6’s to all parts of the ground. Wickets continued to fall at the other end, however, and at 109-4 with 31 overs left, the visitors were still in some trouble.

Trouble was, Guildford had a long batting line-up, and with Bradley Erasmus now at the crease, the Stags had a pair of county youngsters to deal with. They couldn’t. Balls continued to be lost in all areas of the ground, including a monstrous six that cleared the new nets complex.

The loss of Jacks for 119 dealt a small blow, but not enough to cripple, and with another healthy partnership following, the game was taken out of Ashtead’s hands. A late wicket for Tom Deighton kindled a modicum of hope in another late flurry, but lightning could not be encouraged to strike twice. Guildford fire their way to victory with 14 balls to spare.

This defeat sees Ashtead slip to 6th in the Premier League table. Next week sees Normandy travel to Woodfield Lane. Normandy are currently top of the Premier League, but their only loss of the campaign so far was at the hands of the Stags, by 29 runs. Join us then.