Cricket: Dulwich 59-run winners over Chipstead, Coulsdon & Walcountians

Dulwich had the better of a fluctuating match at home to Chipstead, Coulsdon & Walcountians in Division 1 of the Surrey Championship and emerged victorious by 59 runs.

Dulwich were put in to bat and got off to a rapid start as Ollie Sykes launched an attack on the opposition bowlers that saw 36 runs on the board after just six overs.

But this proved a false dawn as a change of bowling imposed some restraint. James Schofield was the first to go with the score on 45, having made 14 off 23 balls, and Sykes fell for 31 off 36 to make it 56-2 after 13 overs.

Chipstead, with a mixture of pace and spin, then removed Apoorv Wankhade for 16, skipper Chris Purshouse for 12, and Sam Seecharan for a single, while Ollie Steele batted staunchly at the other end, and Dulwich went into lunch on 117-5 after 32 overs. Steele fell soon after the resumption, having made 36 off 75 balls, and was quickly followed by Harvey Booth to leave Dulwich precariously placed on 125-7 after 36 overs.

Ahmed Khan was now joined by Jon Lodwick and they turned the innings round with a superb partnership of 96 in 26 overs for the eighth wicket.

Khan led the way at first while Lodwick held up an end, but he also went on the attack as the innings approached its end.

Both fell in the 63rd over. Khan was the first to go, having made 54 off 76 balls, and Lodwick followed four balls later having faced 100 balls for his 45.

Kaif Ramzan added 16 off 11 balls in company with Simon Harwood as Dulwich batted out the full 66 overs to close on 243-9, leaving Chipstead 54 overs to get the runs or bat out for a draw.

Their reply got off to a disastrous start when Booth struck in the first over. A wicket apiece for Harwood and Khan then reduced Chipstead to 45-3 after 10 overs.

Overseas player Angelo Jayasinghe was joined by Jeremy Ives and the pair added 61 in 15 overs for the fourth wicket before Seecharan took his first wicket for the club to have Ives caught behind by Steele for 18 off 48 balls. Ramzan took the fifth wicket in similar fashion to make it 119-5 after 30 overs.

Jayasinghe had already reached 70 at a run a ball, but now entered a curious phase in which he took a single early in each over, leaving his inexperienced partner Manny Johns to take the brunt of the strike.

Johns scored 24 out of a stand of 35 in 10 overs for the sixth wicket before Harwood returned for a second spell and had him caught behind with his second ball. The seventh wicket fell off the next ball when the new batsman was run out going for a suicidal third run.

The eighth wicket pair added 17 before Harwood struck twice in successive balls to reduce Chipstead to 173-9 in the 45th over.

With the last man in Jayasinghe finally went on the attack and was caught on the boundary for 86, off 99 balls, to give Harwood figures of 5-38 off 7.3 overs. Chipstead were dismissed for 184 with 7.3 overs remaining.

Despite this victory Dulwich remain in seventh place, but have opened up a gap of 59 points over Camberley, who are eighth.

This weekend the format reverts to 50 overs a side, and Dulwich have a home fixture against Spencer, who are fifth. The first match between the sides had ended in a draw.