20 more points as Ashtead sweep Esher aside

Glorious – the weather, the action, and eventually, the result. A short match for Ashtead in Round 4 of the 2021 Surrey Championship Premier Division, as they comprehensively defeated Esher by 7 wickets to close out the month of May in style.

Esher won the toss and elected to make first use of a wicket that looked very typical for May – hard on top, softer underneath, with a good contest in prospect with the bat and with the ball. Unfortunately for the hosts, they just never got going.

It would be a run out that started the slide, Ben Sidwell using all his strength and skill to effect a direct hit from way back at fine leg to remove the opener Andrew McCallum for 3. Going was slow but steady in the opening passage, but a smart bowling change paid dividends immediately as Manoj Sarathchandra (ever in the headlines for the Stags) took a smart catch off Harri Aravinthan to depose the hosts’ overseas player for just 5.

Wickets continued to tumble as Ben Sidwell snaffled a sharp caught and bowled, and then the spinner took over. Twin strikes for Tom Homes in consecutive overs tore apart the Esher middle order, and by drinks after 24, the hosts were reeling at 73-5.

Worse, however, was to come, as Sam Homes and Tom Deighton combined to wreak havoc on the lower order and the tail. The constant, and the faint hope for the hosts, was their skipper Will Edwards, who had been steadily accumulating runs while others perished. By this stage, he had crept for 37, but a rash shot off Deighton was pouched by Tom Homes. 86-7. Smart keeping from Manoj (a catch and a stumping) and that scoreline became 100-9.

The number 11 for Esher put up some more resistance (including a six that had the scorers ducking optimistically), but the cameo 13 runs only raised the target to 124.

So early in the day was the end of the innings that Ashtead would have to bat 50 minutes before the main interval. By that time, 13 overs had passed, and the visitors had reached 38-1. Wayne White was the sole casualty of that opening salvo, caught for 12 (including a beautiful six off an early free hit), but Ben Geddes and Harri Aravinthan looked assured as the target came lowly into view.

The Stags would lose Aravinthan shortly after tea, but that brought Manoj to the crease – a man clearly in a hurry as the first six was deposited out of the ground off his fifth ball. Three more shots would follow a similar pattern as Ashtead ruthlessly plundered the slower bowlers and showed caution and respect to the quicker men.

Geddes brought up his 50, off 73 balls, with two required to win – and promptly spat the very next ball to a close-in fielder, ending his stay. Conor Young would bulldoze a boundary in the next over (only the 26th of the innings, just after halfway) to finish the match – Manoj ending on an unbeaten 42 from just 22 balls!

That victory sees Ashtead retain third place in the league table, as Wimbledon and East Molesey above us both won their matches today.

Next week sees Normandy travel to Woodfield Lane for, unusually, a 50 over game in the month of June. Normandy currently lie sixth in the table, with a single win to their name thus far. The last time these sides met in this format was in 2018, when the hosts won convincingly by 101 runs. Let’s see if the Stags can continue their winning ways. Join us then.