Monkey off back as Gibbons onslaught blows away tail

Leatherhead v Effingham

An astonishing combination of bowling figures brought this annual local derby to a rapid conclusion, but prior to that, a challenging total had been set by Effingham’s Sunday XI. An opening stand of 55 between Harrison Green (38) and 12 year old Adam Iqbal (24) moved on to 90-2 with both of them back in the pavilion; when Chris Fewson was out for a brisk 32 off 28 balls, with the score on 155-3, captain Ed Cooper joined Nick Jackman, who, on his debut, had kept the fielders busy retrieving the ball from the boundary on a regular basis. No further wickets fell and with Ed Cooper finishing on 17 not out and Nick Jackman on 89 not out, their partnership of 55 had enabled Effingham to declare on 206-3.

Leatherhead suffered an immediate set back, losing their first wicket without troubling the scorers, although they recovered enough to lift their confidence by reaching the mid-twenties without any further loss of wickets. That soon changed when the score plummeted to 27-5 and the target of 207 seemed a long way off. Opening bowler Dom Brown had claimed four of the wickets and throughout all this, J.Patel had battled on, contributing most of the runs in a 6^th wicket partnership of 61. Introducing fourth change bowler, Rob Gibbons brought about immediate success when he picked up two wickets in his first over and he went through the home side’s tail with ease, finishing with outstanding figures of 5-3 in his three overs. Dom Brown’s 4-6 in seven overs, including four maidens, was equally impressive, and the astonishing combined figures of 9-9 from the two leading bowlers left Leatherhead all out for 98, Effingham winning by a healthy margin of 108 runs.