Century for Sanderson as 2s notch up another win

With the sun shining, quite a novelty this year, Ashtead won the toss and put Walton on Thames in to bat.

Opening bowlers Prashanth Srinisavan and Henry Elburn kept the runs down and Prashanth took the first wicket of Joe Button, caught by Sam Homes for 13 in the 9th over. Batsmen Chris Bryant and captain Arthur Vaughan then looked to be getting comfortable and it took until the 22nd over, and a change to the spinning combination of Sam and Tom Homes, for the second wicket to fall: caught by Josh Pickering off Sam Homes. This was followed by a couple of quick wickets to Tom Homes, with the first another catch to the agile Pickering and Walton's score moved to 76-4.

George Vaughan, brother of captain Arthur who scored 20 and not averse to a little sibling rivalry, then set about dispatching an array of fours and sixes to the boundary to achieve a score of 63 before finally being bowled by Sam Homes in the 39th over with the score on 161-5. Vaughan's partner Khan (30)was stumped by Simon Feeney two overs later and a further wicket followed quickly with Bartlett bowled by Elburn for 1. Batsmen Jon Greet (18) and Dave Rolton (23*)then dug their heels for a partnership of 37 before Greet was caught by Luke Mursaleen off the bowling of Tom Homes and the score was 200-8 after 52 overs.

Panic attacks by batsmen 10 and 11 led to two run outs in the 53 over and the innings was done. So despite Walton claiming they couldn't score runs this year,they knocked up a score of 209 off 53 overs, not a trivial target and more than Ashtead have had to make for most of the season to date. Wickets were shared between Sam Homes (3), Tom Homes (3), and one each to Prashanth and Henry.

After tea, Michael Sanderson and Steve Tyson came to the crease ready to do business, but initially the run making was slow with bowler Alistair Bartlett, in particular, bowling a series of maidens. An unfortunate run out of Tyson for 18 in the 17th over with the score on 58 left some work to be done. Luke Mursaleen didn't look too comfortable to start with, especially with new bowler Joe Button keeping things tight, but he ably stuck there while Sanderson was beginning to get into his stride and together they put on a partnership of 62 before Mursaleen was caught by Bilal Khan for 17.

Josh Pickering came to the crease in the 33rd over with Ashtead's score on 120 and with still a long way to go to the target of 210, we wondered if we were only looking for a winning draw. However Sanderson was on 74, becoming used to looking for the boundary and three figures were beckoning. As the spectators gathered on the boundary Sanderson continued to please and, with Pickering joining the party at the other end, an array of fours plus a few sixes were scattered around the ground by both batsmen. The Walton bowlers tried to pin back the runs but to no avail and Ashtead's targets were met: firstly Michael Sanderson's century and then the required target of 211 (satisfyingly with a six)in the 45th over.

Josh Pickering made 35* (with 3 fours and 2 sixes) while Michael Sanderson carried his bat on 120* (16 fours and 3 sixes). Another win for the 2s and all round a good day's work!