Addiscombe 4s beat Dorking

This was a big match. Addiscombe lie 3rd in the league with Dorking and Sutton both unbeaten in 2nd and 1st place respectively. We traveled down, avoiding the millions of cyclists on the local roads, to play at Dorking's beautiful venue underneath Box Hill.

We won the toss and, as usual, decided to bat. We lost Steve Hasler for 3 and then Hasnain for 4, but Adam Stevens and the skipper put on a decent partnership and took us to 72. Then Adam was unluckily given out caught down the legside for 17. Beef Stew came in and looked imperious with some cracking cuts and was on 15 when he came down the wicket and was stumped. George too perished caught and bowled after looking good. The skipper top edged a pull and was out for 69, his highest score of the season. Vivek was caught behind for 6 but Farooq came in at 8 and played his best innings of the season. As ever, he hit a massive six and also 4 fours in a vital 31 which made a big difference to our total. Wakil hit two 4s and was out for 8, Farooq skied on and then Aaron fell cheaply. It meant we were all out for a disappointing 170 which was 20-30 short of what we should have scored. The skipper unwisely took out frustration on a surprisingly fragile plastic chair...

After a tea break, which saw Addiscombe's skipper make a contrite apology to Dorking for his furniture-related misdemeanours, we took the field. For the third match in a row, Mano bowled superbly. He pitched it up and swung it and got their opener out in the first over, caught Wakil. Their batting was strong but our bowling was tight with Adam Stevens bowling well from the other end. Their 2 and 3 put on 50 however and you could see why Dorking have won so many matches. We kept it tight but they looked solid. Beefmeister General came on to replace Mano and hit his length straightaway. The Oxo-Boy hardly bowled a single loose ball and proceeded to rip out their middle order with Steve 'bucket-hands' Hasler poaching one and George taking 2. It was cracking bowling. Wakil came on and sprayed it around a bit but got a vital wicket, caught Mano. The skipper also took a low catch off Beefy and Dorking were on the ropes.

With 6 wickets down they shut up shop and started blocking with 25 overs left. This was surprising as they only needed under 5 an over and we feared an hour and a half of mind-numbing boredom. Hasnain and Vivek both fielded very well and Farooq bowled a decent spell but Aaron got injured which meant he could not bowl. We kept it tight but we needed wickets and so Mano was brought back on. He took off where his first spell ended, bowling straight and full and Dorking had no answer. He bowled their decent number 6 and went on to clean bowl their 9, 10 and 11 and won us the match. It was great to get a win against so close rivals in the league and Mano and Beefo led us off the field.

Their bowling figures were: Mano, 12 overs, 5 wickets for 20 and Beefcake 9 overs, 4 wickets for 11. Superb stuff.

Well played everyone! As drove back to the club with some broken furniture in the captain's car, we got further good news when we heard that Merstham got a winning draw against Sutton. It means the top of the table is tighter than ever.

Big thanks to Gavin for umpiring and Steve Hasler for going out of his way to give team mates lifts back to the club . Great team work and well played everyone.