Surrey Cricket Championship | ECC Week 12 Report

Playing away, the 1st XI lost the toss and were asked to bowl first.

Coming up against a determined batting line up, Effingham struggled to make early inroads, putting on 56 before Anthony Brown broke the partnership.

Following this, Effingham were met with continued strong resistance, with the Woking & Horsell number three anchoring their innings with a patient 65.

Despite a flurry of wickets reducing the home side from 173-3 to 186-6, some aggressive lower order hitting catapulted the opposition to 231 from their 50 overs.

In response, captain Benji Thomas, the league’s top run scorer by some distance, played a similar anchoring role in the Ships’ innings, striking 80 from 102 balls to reach his fifth score of more than 50 this season.

Sadly, despite Thomas’ efforts, a faltering 1st XI side couldn’t offer the requisite support, with Effingham losing their last 7 wickets for just 26 runs as they fell 84 runs short.

Second XI

It was again a tale of two teams as the 2nd XI beat Guildford 3rd XI in a tight, low-scoring affair.

Winning the toss and batting first on an Effingham deck that has rewarded batters this season, some accurate bowling from Guildford put the Ships on the back foot. Despite starts from three of the top four, none of the Effingham line up could kick on as they were reduced to 88-9.

Fortunately for Effingham, up stepped number 10 Sam Cobb with a brutal innings of 46 from 34 balls as, along with some able support from Mark Ransom (6*), the final pair were able to add 65 for the tenth wicket.

This led the Ships to a defendable total of 153 before Cobb fell just four shy of what would have been his maiden 2nd XI half century.

In response, a strong Effingham bowling attack immediately put the home side in the ascendency, with the talismanic Nick Bond clean bowling their opening batsman.

Guildford were never fully able to put together partnerships of note, with the tight bowling of spinners James Blair (3 for 44) and Mark Ransom (1 for 19) keeping Effingham on top.

With the game in the balance with Guildford on 101-6, the pace of both Bond (2 for 27) and Cobb (3 for 6) proved to be the deciding factor in the fixture, as the two of them tore through the strong lower order of the opposition to bowl them out for 123.

Thanks to Cobb’s fantastic all round effort, the 2nd XI have now won three must-win matches in as many weeks, dragging themselves from 10th to 8th in Division 8 West.

Effingham 1st XI 147 all out lost to Woking & Horsell 1st XI 231-6 by 84 runs

Effingham 2nd XI 153 all out beat Guildford 3rd XI 123 all out by 30 runs

Sam Cobb scored 46 and took 3 for 6 to power Effingham to a victory