Draw for Ashtead after run-fest at the Lane

120 overs. Nearly 8 hours in the match. And a draw the end result. This was the scene at Woodfield Lane as Ashtead secured a losing draw in Round 5 of the 2018 Surrey Championship, hosting Sunbury in the first of the 120 over fixtures.

Ashtead won the toss and elected to bat on a surface that looked difficult to bat on first up, but with more opportunities later in the game. And the Stags decided to attack from the off, with overseas pro David White bludgeoning the early overs of pace bowling. Guy Harper, his opening partner, took a more circumspect approach, but also accumulated runs at a steady pace.

50, then 60, then 90 came and went without a wicket. After frustrating the opening bowlers, Sunbury employed a pace-spin combination with Surrey spinner Amar Virdi claiming the first wicket of the day, as White was trapped LBW for 53.

In came Lalit Bose, who proceeded in the same vein as his outgoing teammate. Harper chose this moment to kick on as well, and despite his loss for 41, the run rate remained high and Ashtead were in the ascendency heading towards lunch. Sadly, Bose also fell LBW for 43 in the penultimate over of the session – but at 151-3 off 29, the session belonged to the hosts.

The middle order found the going tough after the break, with Virdi and Chris Green bowling tidily in tandem. Runs were hard to come by, and three quick wickets for Virdi left Ashtead precariously at 183-6 after 43 overs. From a great start, it all might have gone to waste.

Enter Conor Young. While wickets were falling around him, he bid his time and waited for the bad bowling to come to him. He found a stable partner in Tom Homes, and together they added 76 for the 7th wicket in the next 20 overs. Some strong hitting from Young and John Vaughan-Davies at the death saw the Stags to a final total of 290-7 off the maximum 66 over allocation.

Lalit Bose was amongst the wickets early, claiming an early LBW, but Sunbury found the going as good as the host’s openers had done. They plundered the bowling, particularly the spinners when they came on, and at 57-1 for 19 at tea, Sunbury looked to have the measure of the Stags.

Two pieces of fielding brilliance would change all that. First of these was from Guy Harper, with a sharp throw from leg gully to remove the Sunbury batsman, who had slipped on being sent back for 25. A few overs later, and it would be the danger man John Maunders who would depart, run out at the bowler’s end by an extraordinary ricochet from skipper Tom Deighton. Deighton would claim a further wicket in his next over to see the visitors at 99-4.

After pegging them back, Sunbury got away again, and after some more attacking batting, a change was desperately in order. And it worked. Despite bowling 2 overs for 19, Sam Homes made the breakthrough and removed Rhythm Bedi for 25, endng a stand of 79 with Ishi Sohi. Sohi, the wreaker of havoc in the 2017 fixture between the sides, looked to be repeating the feat until he holed out on the boundary for 75. 218-7, with 10 overs remaining. All to play for.

Ashtead would claim a further wicket to require just two more to win, but they could not claim the final scalps and Sunbury ran out of time to finish the job. However, they had the faster scoring rate and so claimed the winning draw.

Next week sees Ashtead travel to Cranleigh for Round 6 of the Championship. Ashtead lost this fixture by 4 wickets in the 2017 season. This year, Cranleigh have just a single win and a draw to their name. Join us then.

P.S. Stay tuned to Ashtead CC’s progress in the T20 Cup, as they are through to the quarter-finals following wins against Dorking and Beddington in Rounds 2 and 3 on Bank Holiday Monday.