Not much fun in the sweltering sun. Ashtead were made to sweat for no points as defending champions East Molesey got revenge for their Week 1 defeat with an early 7-wicket win in Round 10 of the 2025 Surrey Cricket Championship Premier Division.

Ashtead won the toss and, unsurprisingly, elected to bat first on a day that looked perfect to make the fielders toil under the sun. However, it quickly became apparent that batting would not be an easy task. Both the opening bowlers for the Moles were able to cause early problems, and all too soon, the first Stag wicket would fall.

This brought skipper Mark Stoneman to the crease and, for a while, he showed what could be possible – playing a classic mixture of solid defence, interspersed with attacking flair. This encouraged the other opener, Jevan Kher, to begin expanding his strokeplay, and together the score began to grow.

Losing Stoneman for 25 halted the charge, however, and when Adam Thomas and the aforementioned Kher both succumbed to the left arm spin of Michael Shean, the Stags were reeling at 48-4. Simon Keene, new to the crease, showed some intent early, but would be ensnared by Shean as well. 62-5 and heavy going – it would be a challenge to salvage a decent score.

But, for a while, it appeared that the Stags might yet be able to do so. Conor Young was joined at the crease by young star Nathaniel Atkins, and the two slowly built a sizeable partnership. It was still hard going – there was plenty on offer for the spinners, and some good fielding continued to heap the pressure on the batters in sweltering conditions.

A period of attack straight after lunch boosted the total somewhat, and as Ashtead neared the first batting point, with almost 20 overs still to bat, a defendable total started to loom into view. Enter James Southgate, who first bowled Atkins for a very well made 37, and then trapped Young LBW for 47 straight after drinks. This precipitated a collapse, with the final 4 wickets falling for just 4 runs. 147 all out.

The chase was always to going to rely on taking early wickets and, while Keene and Ben Sidwell caused some early headaches for the Moles’ openers, the breakthrough simply didn’t come. Stoneman kept up the pressure with lots of bowling changes, utilising his attack to find the chink in the batters’ armour, but by drinks after 50 minutes, the scoreboard read 62-0.

As ever, intervals often change momentum, and the Stags would make the breakthrough a few overs later. Tom Homes’ left arm spin would entice a rash run that saw a clinical run out chance taken, and Homes would then draw an edge to first slip off the very next ball. Could this be the turning point?

Well, no. Despite Sam Hunt drawing an edge to the keeper, the end was fast approaching. The umpires and players agreed to delay tea for 30 minutes to get a result – only 10 of those minutes were needed, as East Molesey cantered to the target for the loss of 3 wickets.

That loss, with other results, keep Ashtead 6th in the league table just after halfway – all very much still to play for. Next week sees Ashtead on the road again, as they travel to Esher. Esher lie 8th in the table, but are coming off a good win against Dulwich, and had the bragging rights over the Stags in the May fixture between the two sides.

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