League leaders take the points as wickets prove hard to find

Facing the league leaders was always going to be a challenge. And so it proved for the Ashtead Stags, as they succumbed to an 8-wicket defeat at the hands of East Molesey in Round12 of the 2021 Surrey Championship.

East Molesey won the toss and elected to field first, which seemed the obvious decision based on the weather. Indeed, the match started nearly an hour late due to overnight and morning rain. The Ashtead opening partnership, a new pairing of Ragu Aravinthan and Tom Homes, started in very different ways. Ragu, on good form in Surrey junior cricket, started swinging from ball one and boundaries came thick and fast. Homes was far more circumspect, and it proved a challenge as he departed early for just 2.

Ragu soon followed, surviving an easy drop, and then being strangled down the legside off the very next ball. The loss of overseas pro Manoj Sarathchandra, lbw for 1, left the visitors at 45-3 and reeling. Ragu’s brother Harri, accompanied by Conor Young, saw the Stags to lunch. More runs needed.

And, mercifully, they began to flow. Both batsmen played their strokes and measured their approach, despite a nearly half hour break for more rain. The pace bowlers were failing to make further progress and so East Molesey turned to their spinners. And, as is so often the case, the drinks break brought the wicket that the hosts required, with Harri holing out to long on for 79 and Conor departing for 57 in the very next over.

The Ashtead lower order and tail would need to move the score to a defendable position, building on the platform that had been set. And, by and large, they did so. Cameos across the board saw the Stags reach a final score of 227-9 off their allotted 56 overs.

The Moles would receive 45 overs to chase down the score, with a short session of 6 overs just before tea. A couple of early wickets now would ramp up the pressure. Instead, the hosts’ openers went for broke and plundered the quicker bowlers – moving the total to 42-0 by the time the sandwiches came out.

Given the scoring prowess and the form of the batsmen, wickets after the break would be crucial or the game would get away. And so it proved, as the seamers continued to find the going extremely tough. Spin from both ends would be the order of the day for the rest of the match, working hard to hold the runs in check and building enough pressure to make the breakthrough. Tom Homes, the leading Stags wicket-taker, would be the man to do the job.

This brought the dangerous overseas pro Hammit Singh to the crease, and after a cautious start, he showed his colours by crashing through the attack. Ashtead would break the mould again with Tom Deighton, the erstwhile skipper, claiming the other opening batsmen but it was too little and too late. In the gloom of an encroaching evening, East Molesey would sink the winning runs with more than 6 overs to spare.

This result, and others around it, sees Ashtead slip to 7th in the table – but still only a handful of points from the top half.

Next week sees Esher travel to Woodfield Lane for a long-format fixture. This is the fourth time the sides have met in 2021, with 1 win apiece and an abandonment. The last time the sides met in the league, Ashtead were the comfortable victors – and it was the same story the last time Esher visited Woodfield Lane for the longest format in 2019, when the Stags bowled out their guest for just 86. Let’s see if Ashtead can return to winning ways. Join us then.