Cricket: Dulwich stay sixth despite fourth successive victory

BY JOHN LEWIS

Dulwich once again fielded a young side at home to Camberley in Division 1 of the Surrey Championship, and emerged victorious in a fluctuating match by 23 runs.

Dulwich elected to bat but got off to a disastrous start as Tom Holden took three wickets, all bowled, with his first eight balls, to reduce them to 15-3 after 2.2 overs.

Overseas player Apoorv Wankhade then took advantage of the fielding restrictions to push the score along at high speed. He added 41 for the fourth wicket with Sam Seecharan (12) and 17 for the fifth with Ahmed Khan (five).

By this time the score had reached 75 after just 11.5 overs, with Wankhade already on 46. He reached his half century in the next over having faced just 39 balls. He had now been joined by Harvey Booth, and together they put on 98 in 18 overs for the sixth wicket before both were caught on the boundary.

Booth was first to go, having made 46 off 66 balls, and Wankhade followed in the next over for 94 off just 84 balls. With 19 overs still available Jon Lodwick tried to steer the score past the 200 mark but ran out of partners on 198 with 8.5 overs unused. The last five wickets had gone down in 11.2 overs for just 27 runs.

The Camberley reply got off to a similarly rapid start. Lauchie Johns played out a maiden in the first over and then hit 57 off his next 18 balls, comprising 11 fours, two sixes, and one single. He was out, caught behind off Jacob Emler, having faced just 25 balls in making his 57 out of a first wicket partnership of 65 in 9.3 overs.

After his dismissal the innings became becalmed in a sea of strokelessness as the Dulwich bowlers took the next six wickets in 18 overs for just 32 runs. Lodwick took two of them, while Booth, Khan and Kaif Ramzan had one each, and the other fell to a run out.

Sam Holmes joined Mohsin Bashir with the score on 97-7 in the 28th over, and they revived Camberley’s hopes with a stand of 63 in 12 overs for the eighth wicket. But Holmes’s dismissal, caught behind off Lodwick for 24 off 34 balls, marked the beginning of the end.

The last three wickets went down for 15 runs to leave Bashir stranded on 42 off 65 balls and saw his side dismissed for 175 after 45.1 overs.

Lodwick finished with 4-28 off 9.1 overs, Ramzan took 2-28 off eight while Khan, who had conceded just eight runs off his first seven overs, finished with 1-25 off 10. Keeper Robbie Keaton had another good match, holding four catches.

This was Dulwich’s fourth victory in their last four completed matches and they remain sixth in the table. This weekend they have a difficult journey to leaders Banstead, who won the first match between the sides. Another victory in the return fixture would ensure their promotion.