Extras help as Dulwich CC move up to third in Surrey Championship Division Two

BY JOHN LEWIS

Dulwich are up to third in Division Two of the Surrey Championship after a one-wicket win over Oxted & Limpsfield last weekend.

With both their regular opening bowlers unavailable, Dulwich gave debuts to Hugo Peterson and Felix Allocca.

Allocca struck in his second over. Oxted’s Joe Murtagh and Harvey Cutmore gradually increased the tempo, and had taken the score to 99 after 25 overs with a substantial total looking likely.

But the spinners had started to impose some restraint and Ahmed Khan broke the stand in the next over, having Cutmore caught at slip for 39.

Frankie Brown bowled a miserly spell of 10 overs in which he took the next three wickets and conceded just 15 runs. Only 33 runs had come from 16 overs as Oxted declined to 132-5 after 41.

The sixth wicket pair took the score to 150 in the 47th over before Peterson returned to remove Murtagh, whose dogged innings of 72 had taken 124 balls.

A late flurry lifted the score to 175 for the loss of two more wickets, both to Alex Gledhill, who finished with 2-35 off 10 overs, while Khan had 1-33 off his 10. Dulwich kept their opponents down to 76 runs in the last 25 overs to set up the chance of victory.

Acting skipper Chris Purshouse opened the batting, but lost Ollie Steele for nine and Brown for eight to make it 37-2 after 12 overs.

Purshouse and Paul Selvey-Clinton added 56 in 12 overs for the third wicket, but were both dismissed by Murtagh, with Purshouse making 38 off 63 balls and Selvey-Clinton 34 off 48.

Will Bancroft fell for three to reduce Dulwich to 118-5 in the 33rd over. Keeper Michael Harms kept the score moving while wickets fell at the other end.

Matt Marfani went for 17 with the score on 129, Khan for three at 143, and Peterson was run out for a single to make it 154-8.

The score had advanced to 169 when Harms became the ninth wicket to fall, having made 33 off 45 balls, with two fours and three sixes.

This brought number 10 Gledhill and number 11 Allocca together with seven runs still needed and 3.5 overs remaining.

They proceeded in singles, aided by a couple of wides, one of which brought the scores level in the penultimate over.

Gledhill nudged the first ball of the last over for a single to secure the victory. The Dulwich total had been boosted by 25 extras, including 19 wides.

Dulwich head to Chessington on Saturday.