Ashtead B U12 v Clagate GCL

On a sunny and dry (!) Friday evening, captain for the day Tom Perkins won the toss and invited Claygate to bat.

An accurate opening spell from both Tom Perkins and Amar Mir put early pressure on the home side which resulted in a wicket for Amar. As Ashtead rotated the bowling the accuracy was maintained by all bowlers with very impressively only 7 wides bowled in the Claygate innings. Whilst Claygate after the early loss consolidated their position and gradually started to accumulate runs 2 fine pieces of fielding from Amar and Toby Racket, aided by Matt Gwyther the wicket keeper, resulted in 2 run outs for the away side which prevented Claygate from getting fully into their stride. Matthew Shervington batted very well for the home side which saw him retire with 30 not out. Two further wickets were claimed, one each for Luke Pisa who bowled a very tidy spell and Toby Rackett who with added perseverance took a good wicket. With the bowling at the end by Luke Horner Long and Fergus Ames backed by some enthusiastic fielding the home side were restricted to 80 for 5 in their 20 overs with only 16 extras included within this total.

Ashtead opened their response with Matt Gwyther and Tom Perkins both running very well between the wickets. With the former undone by a ball which kept low and was to become a theme of the Ashtead innings, Archie Coldicott was quickly into the action hitting a good four although he was shortly afterwards undone by a very good catch by the Claygate wicket keeper. Alex Gillespie however carried on the impressive hitting reaching 11 before falling victim to another ball which kept low. George Sherwin, Leo Martim, Amar Mir and Toby Rackett all produced good early shots only to perish shortly after. Whilst well up with the run rate Ashtead were in danger of running out of batsman when at 7 down Luke Pisa strode to the wicket to join Tom Perkins who batted with great sense for his 17 not out and really held the Ashtead innings together. This pair saw Ashtead to victory in the 18th over with a score of 82 for 7, which was a fine victory in a good game.

Many thanks to Mark Rackett who managed the boys on the day (and maintained his 100% record !!!)