Cricket: Dulwich lose by seven wickets to Malden Wanderers

BY JOHN LEWIS

A Dulwich side lacking several key players travelled to Malden Wanderers for their ninth match of the season in Division 1 of the Surrey Championship but failed to score enough runs and went down to defeat by seven wickets.

Acting skipper James Schofield won the toss and elected to bat on a slow pitch.

The innings was built around a gritty 88 by Ahmed Khan, who batted for 200 minutes and faced 161 deliveries in making 88, his highest Championship score.

He joined Schofield in the fourth over after the early dismissal of Tom Bishop, and helped his captain add 54 in 12.2 overs.for the second wicket.

Schofield fell for a well made 32 off 45 balls, but none of the later batsmen could find the same fluency as the change bowlers gave little away.

Harvey Booth and Kaif Ramzan went cheaply, but Matt Marfani helped Khan add 35 for the fifth wicket before falling for a dogged 13 off 35 balls. Sam Ellison went without scoring to reduce Dulwich to a precarious 111-6 in the 34th over.

This brought in Jon Lodwick, who dug in while Khan steadily became more aggressive.

The pair added 70 in 20 overs for the seventh wicket before Khan’s innings came to an end 12 runs short of what would have been a well-deserved century.

Lodwick fell in the next over having given solid support in making 26 off 59 balls.

Simon Harwood and Salaar Waqar tried to use up the rest of the overs, but after Waqar’s dismissal Harwood switched to attack and struck two sixes in the next over to take his side past the 200 mark and earn an extra batting point. He then attempted a repeat off the next ball and was caught on the boundary for 14, leaving Dulwich all out for 205 after 61.5 overs.

Harwood and Booth opened the bowling, and both beat the bat on several occasions.

Harwood took a wicket in his second over, but he proved costly and the score had reached 44 in the 10th over when Booth took the second wicket.

Alex Butler then joined opener Zac Elkin and together they added 136 in 30 overs for the third wicket.

The Dulwich bowlers continued to beat the bat without any luck, but with less than four runs an over needed the batsmen could pace their innings and wait for the loose delivery.

Only Ramzan, who conceded just 19 runs off his 10 overs, bowled with sufficient accuracy to keep them in check.

Lodwick broke the partnership by dismissing Butler for 64, off 93 balls, to make it 180-3 after 40 overs. But this only brought in Alastair Curran who smashed 23 not out off just nine balls to take his side to victory with 14.2 overs to spare, leaving Elkin unbeaten on 83, off 137 balls.

Dulwich took just three points from the match but remain in seventh place.

This completed the first half of the season and this weekend sees the first return fixture as Dulwich visit Sutton, who are fourth. The previous meeting between the sides was rained off on the first day of the season.