Ashtead bag the points

It was a bright start as the teams gathered at Woodfield Lane, but all knew that rain was expected soon after lunch and the thought of playing for 3 hours and then abandoning was not a happy one. The two captains were to be seen in deep discussion, perhaps thinking of a way to get a decent game…….The toss was won by Ashtead who chose to field and have a target to chase.

Reigate openers Richard Oliver and ex-Ashtead big hitter Danny Miller set to with the bat and quickly put on 28 before Miller was caught on the boundary by Tom Homes off the bowling of Tom Deighton for 11. Oliver was joined by Bradley Scriven and another 32 runs were added before Oliver was caught by Dom Sibley for 30 off Homes, with a second wicket for Homes following soon after leaving Reigate at 76-3 after 13 overs. Scriven was looking dangerous and launched a couple of big sixes before being run out on 33 by a direct hit from keeper Mahesh Rawat in the 15th over.

There followed a quickfire partnership of 48 over 4 overs between Chris Murtagh and Andy Delmont before Delmont was finally caught by Sibley off Lalit Bose for 21 in the 19th with Murtagh bowled by Rafeh Jafri for 29 in the next over. By this time the rain was falling, but both teams were keen to continue and, with Reigate at 137-6 after 20 overs captain Luke Beaven decided to declare in the hope of achieving a result before the rain set in. Would Reigate bowl out Ashtead cheaply, or could the Stags get to the target before the rain curtailed the match?

With a light drizzle, Reigate took to the field and Ashtead sent in Guy Harper and league leading run scorer Mahesh Rawat to attack the bowling. They set off quickly and had put on 32 when Rawat holed out to Miller off the bowling of Beaven for 18 on the first ball of the 6th over. This brought Dom Sibley to the crease and a few more runs were added as the Stags eased to 58-1 after 8 overs, on target at 7 an over, before lunch was taken at the allotted 1pm and the teams adjourned, watching the sky and hoping the weather would hold.

Returning to the field the spectators were entertained to the conclusion of a 50 run partnership, over just 20 minutes, between Sibley and Harper, with Sibley thrilling the Ashtead supporters with some elegant strokes including 3 fours and 3 sixes before he was finally caught for 41 by Andy Delmont off the bowling of Will Hodson in the 13th. Ashtead had made 103 and the target looked easily within reach. However Reigate bowlers Delmont, Beaven and Ben Shoare had other ideas. With Harper venturing out of his crease and being stumped by Burgess for 30 and then soon after, followed by the cheap wickets of John Vaughan-Davies, Ben Geddes and Tom Homes, the Stags suddenly found themselves at 128-7 at the start of the 20th over.

Notwithstanding that there were plenty of overs left and the rain was still only drizzle, for pride’s sake Ashtead really wanted to reach the target within the 20 overs taken by Reigate. Ten needed off 5 balls to get there, a tall order for the two new bats of Josh Pickering and Rafeh Jafri, but they were intent on making every effort to get there. A couple of singles, a two to Pickering and then a wide, a single and four needed off the last ball. With Jafri on strike, he seemingly turned his body sideways on with intent and launched the ball into the road, a six and Ashtead had made 140 in exactly 20 overs and bagged the 24 points.

Within an hour of the game finishing, the rain was falling steadily and games elsewhere were being abandoned. We had seen an initiative from both teams in how to get the game on and beat the weather, which left both teams and the spectators satisfied that they’d had an exciting game of cricket. Ashtead took the points and stand at fourth, just behind Reigate in the table.