Cricket: Dulwich move up to fourth after tense win over Farnham
Dulwich are up to fourth in Surrey Championship Division Two after a three-wicket win in a tense low-scoring match against Farnham.
A depleted Dulwich invited their visitors to bat on a true but slow pitch on which run scoring was not easy.
Jon Lodwick got them off to the ideal start with a wicket in his third over and two in his fourth.
A wicket for fellow opener Simon Harwood and another for Lodwick had Farnham reeling on 23-5 after 17 overs.
Lodwick completed his spell with the excellent figures of 10-5-11-4, while Harwood gave him good support with 1-15 off seven.
Ciaran Rooney led the fightback with a fighting 43, being well supported by Russell Golding in a stand of 47 in 12 overs for the sixth wicket. By now left-arm spinners Ben Swanson and Alex Gledhill had taken over the attack, and the latter was first to strike and he bowled Golding for nine.
Swanson had Rooney stumped as the first of two wickets in an over, and Gledhill also claimed a second as Farnham collapsed in eight overs from 70-5 to 80-9.
Swanson completed his 14-over spell with figures of 2-30, while Gledhill took 2-22 off 10. The last-wicket pair added eight, and Lodwick returned to try and split the partnership, but it was Salaar Waqar who finished off the innings with only his second ball. Rooney scored almost half of his side’s total, and was the only man to make double figures as Farnham were dismissed for just 88 off 43.2 overs.
The Dulwich batsmen found scoring just as difficult against tight bowling by Rob Goldsworthy and Dominic Lloyd. Alex Leyshon played on, skipper Ed Stolle was caught in the slips, Matt Marfani was bowled, Ed Towner was lbw and Waqar caught in the gully.
Dulwich had collapsed in 15 overs to an identical score of 23-5, with Goldsworthy bowling 13 overs straight through to take 3-19, while Lloyd had 2-21 off 10. Keeper Robbie Catling (with 18) and George Pearson (15) resisted with a stand of 35 in 14 overs for the sixth wicket before they were both bowled by Nathan Thorpe in the same over.
Lodwick, who has not yet been dismissed in the league this season, completed a fine all-round performance with 18, while Harwood finished with 15. Remarkably the innings had taken 43.2 overs, an identical figure to the Farnham innings.
Dulwich travel to seventh-placed Worcester Park tomorrow.
Pics by Keith Gillard