Cricket: Dulwich win at Dorking to stay top of the Surrey Championship Division Two table

BY JOHN LEWIS

Dulwich won a low scoring match by six wickets at Dorking to retain their leadership of the Surrey Championship Division Two.

Rain delayed the start by an hour, reducing the contest to 83 overs. Dulwich invited their opponents to bat, and reaped the rewards as Hugo Peterson launched a devastating opening salvo to take five of the first six wickets, with skipper Jon Lodwick taking the other one. Dorking were reduced to 43-6 in the 17th over.

John Gale and Tommy Dennis added 46 in 13.3 overs for the seventh wicket, taking the score to 89. Gale’s dismissal, caught off Ahmed Khan for 33 off 51 balls, led to a late collapse as the last four wickets fell for 16 runs, with the 16-year-old leg spinner taking all four to finish with 4-27 off 12.4 overs. Peterson bowled his full allocation of 14 overs to finish with 5-23 and take his tally for the season to 14 wickets in only four matches.

Dorking were dismissed in 41.4 overs for 105, which coincidentally is the same score they made the last time the two sides met on this ground. Dennis remained undefeated on 27, having faced 79 balls.

Dulwich had 41 overs to get the runs, and seemed determined to use all of them. The Dorking attack was launched by Kieron Corbett and former Dulwich player Kamran Munawar. They took a wicket apiece, with Munawar having Chris Purshouse lbw for a single and Corbett getting Lachlan Skinner caught behind for four. Frankie Brown joined opener Ollie Steele at 23-2 in the 13th over. The pair batted circumspectly, scoring at barely two runs an over, but ensuring that Dorking made no further breakthroughs. They had just begun to accelerate and had taken their partnership to 60 off 23.4 overs when Brown was bowled for 28, off 63 balls, to make it 83-3 after 36 overs.

Matt Marfani was stumped for six, off eight balls, with the score on 92.

Michael Harms came in with 14 runs needed off 15 balls, and he scored them all himself off the next nine balls to secure victory with an over to spare. Steele had become becalmed in mid-innings, at one stage making just one scoring shot (for two runs) off 40 deliveries, but he stayed to finish undefeated with 45, off 132 balls.

Dulwich have won seven of their nine matches and are one point ahead of Bank of England. They have a 47-point lead over third-placed Old Wimbledonians, their next opponents.