2s win at Cheam

A hot and sunny day, a dry pitch looking inviting to the batsmen and Cheam won the toss and not surprisingly opted to bat.

The quick wicket of Warbis caught Steve Tyson, bowled by Prasanth Srinivasan for a duck in the second over was a good start, but it took until the 14th over and a score of 75 before Ashtead could break the partnership of Duraisingham and McManus. Duraisingham was caught by Gary Martin, again off Prashanth's bowling, for 47.

McManus was joined by Hendry and together they put on another 25 runs before McManus was run out for 40 after which Hendry gradually eased up his total, while enjoying shortlived partnerships with other members of his team. Johnson was stumped by Simon Feeney off the bowling of Sam Homes and then Jordan Brown was bowled by Tom Homes for 5 with the score at 122. With Cheam's score on 154, a sudden flurry of wickets ensued. 4 wickets fell in overs 34 to 36 with the addition of only one more run and suddenly Cheam were on 155 for 9. The wickets were shared two each between Fred Davies and Henry Elburn.

Only Hendry (41) and number 11 Burgess (25) put up much resistance. Burgess hanging on with Josh Brown for a further 8 overs managed to extend Cheam's score to 190 before being bowled by Tom Homes.

After tea Ashtead's batsmen were looking fondly at the fast pitch and shortish boundaries, but initially Cheam's somewhat erratic bowlers Burgess and Josh Brown kept the strike rate down, by a combination of dot balls followed by an unusually high number of wides (15 in total).

Both Gary Martin (7) and Steve Tyson (0) were caught and by the 11th over Ashtead were 39 for 2. But never fear, Ashtead's 2s always seem to have someone to make the runs and the few spectators at the ground enjoyed a partnership of 130 put together by Michael Sanderson and Fred Davies. Cheam tried out 7 bowlers but to no avail. A rather unfortunate mix up brought about Sanderson's run out while on 84 (with 8 fours and 3 sixes)and Ashtead's score at 169. With just 22 runs needed for the win, Davies was joined by Luke Mursaleen and together they knocked off the required runs for a win in the 44th over. Davies finshed on 69* (4 fours and a six) and Mursaleen on 14*.

Another successful day, a win with a bonus point, and the 2s edge a bit further ahead at the top of the table.