Surrey Cricket Championship | ECC Week 7 Report

The 1st XI travelled to Chessington in a mid-table clash, choosing to field first on a hot day.

Chessington started well, putting on a 68 run opening stand, and despite Ben Shaw breaking this partnership, the other opening batsman was able to consistently find support from teammates on his way to 126.

Although Chessington posted 250, the Effingham bowling attack, led by an incisive 4 for 23 by Shaw, managed to limit their total by bowling the home side out with over three overs spare.

Effingham responded with a chase characterised by starts, with no one making the opposition attack pay in the same way the Chessington opener was able to.

While Chessington made continual inroads into the away batting line up, mature knocks in the heat from Benji Thomas (55) and Freddie Dougherty (45 – he also bowled an economical spell of 1 for 18) threatened to bring the ships close to the target.

Sadly upon losing Dougherty, Effingham lost their final three wickets for just two runs, leaving them 28 runs short of parity.

Second XI

The 2nd XI welcomed an unbeaten Surrey Warriors to Effingham, with the home side losing the toss and being asked to field.

Despite their opening batter making an almost chanceless 112, the Effingham bowling attack put together a disciplined and mature performance, never letting the Warriors get too far ahead of the game as they posted 226-9 from their 45 overs.

Ishtiaq Muhammad fronted the attack, taking 3 for 25, and he was ably supported by a canny spin quartet and the pace of 14-year-old Connor James, who picked up his first Surrey Championship wicket bowling at the death.

In response, despite falling to 38-2, Ollie Wright (31) and Dom Carpenter were able to navigate the Warriors’ bowling successfully for 20 overs, putting on 75 for the third wicket – the 2nd XI’s biggest stand of the season so far.

Once Wright fell, Carpenter kicked on, making the chase look more and more likely, particularly as the lower order chipped in with some useful cameos.

Unfortunately Carpenter fell short of leading the 2nd XI to their awaited first victory of the season, stumped on 67, and despite some powerful hitting from Adam Ransom (31*) taking the game to the penultimate ball, Effingham lost by just 11 runs.

Effingham 1st XI 222 all out lost to Chessington 1st XI 250 all out by 28 runs

Effingham 2nd XI 215-8 lost to Surrey Warriors 2nd XI 226-9 by 11 runs