Surrey Cricket Championship | ECC Week 13 Report

The 1st XI welcomed a Chertsey side pushing for promotion and upon losing the toss, were asked to field first.

This proved to be a good toss to lose as Anthony Brown tore through the away team’s top order, reducing them to 34-4 with his fantastic opening spell of 4 for 17.

Not content to let Brown have all the fun, Ben Shaw and Alex Cooper’s pace continued the dismantling of a faltering batting line up, the former taking two wickets in as many balls and the latter following with two of his own to reduce Chertsey to 60-8.

Effingham’s seam attack continued to prove too good for Chertsey, and despite some lower order resistance, Cooper (4 for 38) cleaned things up to bowl them out for 135.

In response, Effingham got off to an assured start, with Harry Mead (15) and captain Benji Thomas putting on 45 for the first wicket.

Following Mead’s dismissal, Thomas, who scored an unbeaten 88 against the same opposition earlier in the season, put the Chertsey bowling attack to the sword, striking 67 before falling with the Ships just 32 runs shy of the target.

With solid contributions from Harrison Green (23) and Will Farnsworth (24*), the 1st XI eased home with more than 15 overs left to spare, defeating their promotion rivals for the second time this year.

Second XI

The 2nd XI put in a similarly dominant display against top-of-the-table Valley End 3rd XI.

Winning the toss and deciding to bat on a very dry service, Effingham lost two early wickets before James Blair (31) and skipper Ollie Wright put on a measured 61 for the third wicket.

Despite losing Blair, the 2nd XI continued to make steady progress, with Adam Ransom joining Wright as they added another half century partnership.

Although Wright fell for 62, Ransom kicked on to score his maiden half century for the 2nd XI, a sparkling 60 not out that drove Effingham to an imposing total of 183-5 on a deteriorating wicket.

In response and despite Nick Bond continuing his habit of removing an opener early on, Valley End looked at relative ease in the chase at 61-1.

On a turning track, left-arm spinning duo Freddie Fox (3 for 17) and Mark Ransom (4 for 14) then began an extraordinary spell of tandem bowling, reducing the league leaders from 61-1 to 90 all out.

17-year-old Fox took his club-best figures, including a jaffer to remove their opener, and Ransom, not wanting to be outdone by his son’s efforts with the bat, tore through their middle order to make victory all but a certainty by the end of his spell.

With this win, the 2nd XI secured their fourth win in a row, beating a team who had only lost once all season and dragging themselves out of the relegation zone for the first time since the first gameweek.

Effingham 1st XI 136-3 all out beat Chertsey 1st XI 135 all out by 7 wickets

Effingham 2nd XI 183-5 beat Valley End 3rd XI 90 all out by 93 runs

Father and son duo Mark and Adam Ransom led Effingham 2nd XI to a fourth win in a row