The Antiques Roadshow

Having successfully lost the toss and been inserted (as he wanted) Pete Sudell and Mark Sibley discovered they were almost twins (Pete is two days older) as they carried their ageing bodies to what was initially a bit of a pudding.

With Sudell attempting not to run too often and eyeing the short boundaries, it came as a bit of a shock when he hot his forst single on 25 and, due to exbaustion, was out next ball doing well to scoop a wide one into covers welcoming hands. Sibley was progessing like a snail at the other end, and missed a straight one next over and plumb lbw, not really needing Dave Whiteley's trigger finger to be lifted before he was on his way back.

Danger threatened when shortly afterwards Dan Price and Matt Jepp had suuccumbed and were back in the hutch with the score at 55 for 4 in the 16th over.

The Stags were at a crossroads at this stage, were they going to collapse catastrophically or would they be able to dig themselves out of this little hole. The key at this stage was to ensure we used up every over. Runs were hard to score on a slow low pitch but there sufficient bad balls around to exploit the boundaries. Cometh the hour cometh the men. Ian Geddes with first Andy Storey and then George Willis developed two solid partnerships so that in the 36th over we had moved on to 138-6, with Geddes still there on 39 not out. With ten overs to come, would we capitulate to about 150 all out or would we be able to accelerate and set a tough target. In comes David Whiteley, batsman of the year in 2012. Fortunately it was a success end - with almost 100 runs being added before the innings closed on 229-8 with both Ian (84) and David (34) being out in the last over.

In the end, a good score on a difficult track and one which allowed the skipper to fully appreciate an excellent Culhane/Elburn tea.

Epsom's response was initially aggressive but with Guy Savin findong the edge of one opener. getting the no3 to play on a couple of overs later and with Gyan clean bowling the other opener with a beauty in the 10th over and the n04 lbw soon afterwards, Epsom were looking vulnerable at 35-4 in the 12th over.

It is important to note the average of the Ashtead team at this stage and their physical condition. Sibley's achilles was playing up, Geddes and Price's hamstrings had gone, Sudell and Storey couldn't run before the game started anyway. It is very difficult to hide 6 players in the field! Fortunately, the short boundaries meant that long chases in the field were few and far between. Unusually we had only one teenager in the team (George Willis) and he was keeping, so no help whatsoever to the older crocks in the field.

A couple of small partnerships moved the score along but a mini-collapse just after drinks left Epsom on the ropes at 99-8 with Whiteley and Sibley picking up a couple of wickets each. Some lusty hitting from the Epsom tail moved the score on to 135 before Sibley struck twice in the 33rd over to confirm a comfortable win for the Stags by 94 runs.

Hardly a vintage performance on the field by a mature Stags side but it was a victory based on a patient batting display by Geddes, Willis and Storey in the middle of the Ashtead innings which created the platform for a strong finish.

The team will have harder challenges ahead but it was good to get our first win of the season.