Shortened match brings promise but Walton win the day

A tale of two weathers. The Ashtead Stags continued their pre-season warm-ups with a shortened visit by Division 1 side Walton-on-Thames to Woodfield Lane. And it would be the visitors who triumphed, by 4 wickets in a 25-over encounter.

The visitors won the toss and, perhaps unsurprisingly, elected to insert the Stags – the cloud cover will encourage the (usually unmoving) white ball to swing for longer, whilst the dry weather would also allow the outfield to speed up a little as the day progressed.

Fresh off seeing Sunbury hit 281 with powerful striking from ball 1, Ashtead decided to employ the same tactic this week – and the early overs seemed to show that idea paying off. Ragu Aravinthan and Ash Naidoo took the attack to the Walton bowlers, with boundaries galore and a pair of 6’s in the first five-over PowerPlay.

After an initial experiment with spin to open up the innings, the visitors reverted to a more conventional attack, and it would take until the 8th over for their first strike, Naidoo departing for 29. Harry Williams would join Ragu at the crease and together, the Ashtead momentum continued to put pressure on the bowlers. At halfway through the innings, on 82-1, the Stags looked set for a big total.

Losing Aravinthan shortly after this threatened a stall, but it was time for Woodfield Lane to welcome the 2024 overseas, Simon Keene, to the crease. Simon, a young hotshot plying his trade in New Zealand, brings both batting and bowling qualities, and will be a vital part of the Ashtead set-up. He looked to set out his stall early, rotating the strike and waiting for his moment – which came with a waist-high full toss, dispatched with aplomb into the road.

The innings was short-lived, although with two more strikes out of the Lane (beyond the hedges at the Pavilion end this time), and the double strike of Keene and Williams robbed the innings of its momentum. The rest of the Ashtead line-up knew they needed to keep up the momentum – so they lived by the sword, and all too often fell upon them. The Stags would be bowled out off the final ball, for 164. A good total, but perhaps a little light.

Keene would open the bowling alongside regular Stag Sam Hunt, and early confusion (with an added slip-up) would see an early run out. The match swung towards the visitors as skipper Dan Roberts and Walton overseas pro Christiaan Oberholzer pushed the score forward. The pressure was beginning to be felt by the hosts when Aaron Rose claimed both set batters in quick succession and the match swung yet again.

A period of calm followed, with Walton rebuilding whilst Ashtead searched for more wickets. The visitors seemed to do a better job of this, with runs (particularly in boundaries) flowing more freely and the target beginning to approach. It would be Stag perennial Tom Homes to break the deadlock, trapping dangerous batter Rhythm Bedi for 17 and triggering a mini collapse that threatened to steal the match back for Ashtead.

It was not to be, however, with the lower order finding the composure (and shot choice) to finish the job. Walton scrambled over the line with 3 balls to spare – confirming how tight the match had been, since its earliest moments.

With rain the only victor in Sunday’s promised clash with Whitstable in the National Club Championship, next weekend (4-5 May) will see a double-header at the Lane again. Saturday sees Division 1 side Malden Wanderers visit, whilst Sunday will (hopefully) see Whitstable visit.

A reminder that you can follow Ashtead CC’s matches via our Twitter feed (@ashteadcc), on our website (www.ashtead.play-cricket.com) or our YouTube channel (Ashtead Cricket Club Live). We look forward to next week! Join us then.