Back
Spin twins strike again as Llamas defeat Cranleigh
Antony Ireland10 Jul 2018 - 11:07
Share via
Delmont and Murtagh continue strong form with 155 partnership. By Paul Bridge
Reigate Priory breezed past Cranleigh on Saturday with a seven wicket win at the Park Lane ground, thereby maintaining its 25-point lead at the top of the Surrey Championship table.
Llama spin twins Luke Beaven and Michael Munday slowly strangled the opposition batting taking eight wickets between them in almost 48 overs of bowling from a total 64.3 overs that Cranleigh batted for, in making 218 all out.
Then it was a case of the Chris Murtagh and Any Delmont show in yet another match-winning partnership – this one for 155 runs - as Reigate knocked off the required runs with 20 overs to spare.
Cranleigh won the toss and opted to bat on another day of hot sunshine, a dry wicket and a dusty outfield. It was always going to be a spinner’s day and Murtagh wasted no time in bringing on his left-arm match-winner Luke Beaven for the second over of the innings.
And in 11 overs bowled from the pavilion end, Beaven twirled his way through the Sunbury upper order batting, such that after an hour’s play Cranleigh were 51-4.
Jack Scriven, younger brother of Reigate’s Brad Scriven, was first to go, well caught by Angus Dahl off Beaven for 13 at 20-1. Then Lloyd Paternott, making his debut for Cranleigh, was caught off Beaven for 6 at 34-2 by former skipper Neil Saker, playing in this game as a batsman in place of the injured Ben Shoare.
Will Hodson, who had opened the bowling from the Blue Anchor End and stormed in eventually for 12 consecutive overs in the heat, got his reward by getting Cranleigh’s number four batsman Andrew Hollingsworth leg before for 0 at 39-3.
And when Beaven had opener Lewis Bedford trapped leg before for 24 at 51-4, the spinner had taken three of the first four wickets for 20 in nine overs.
But Cranleigh did offer resistance and it came from number five bat Bruno Broughton and wicket-keeper Callum Kent.
Broughton, who last year played for Oxford MCCU, partnered first with the Australian all-rounder Marcus Atallah who plays for University of New South Wales, the club that both Scriven from Cranleigh and Dahl from Reigate played for last winter.
And indeed it was Dahl who reminded Atallah of just how fine a fielder he is when he ran out his Australian friend for 1 after Atallah and Broughton had partnered for 35 runs.
Broughton now was joined by Kent in what was to be a 55-run partnership over 14 overs, the biggest partnership of the innings. Not out 25 when Atallah was run out at 86-5, Broughton moved on to his 50 from 72 balls.
At 140-5 Kent, then on 23, was dropped off a skier off Munday’s bowling. But next ball Broughton was caught behind by wicket-keeper Sam Hall off the leg-spinner for 53.
Fast bowler Ed Tristem joined Kent and hit his third ball off Munday for 6. Emboldened by such success he swiped again at Munday three balls later and was well held at head height by Saker fielding on the mid-wicket boundary for just those 6 runs at 151-7.
Kent found a second partner in Cranleigh spinner Jonathan Gonszor and for 14 overs this pair withstood anything Munday and Beaven had to offer. But after a partnership of 44 together Kent was the man to depart, caught at slip by Danny Miller off Munday’s bowling for 45 at 195-8.
Cranleigh’s last two batsmen helped Gonszor push the score past the 200 mark but with the remaining two wickets being split between Munday and Beaven, Gonzor was left on 31 not out as Cranleigh finished all out on 218.
Beaven and Munday had bowled in tandem for the last 31.3 overs of the innings for the last five Cranleigh wickets, with Munday nabbing four of those five wickets to fall.
Beaven ended with figures of 4-83 from 26.3 overs and Munday ended with 4-72 from 21 overs.
Reigate started their innings as if in a whirlwind with Oliver smiting Jack Scriven for 4,4,6,4,2,1 (a total of 21 runs) in his first over, the second over of the game.
Next over, the third of the game, Oliver had his off stump knocked out of the ground by William Rollings at 34-1 and the former Worcestershire opener departed with 26 runs to his name made in just 12 balls.
Thereafter normal service was resumed as Delmont, 4 not out at the fall of the first wicket, joined up with old batting partner Chris Murtagh. As in many of their partnerships of old, this pair batted together without drama or fuss, scoring at the rate of over 4 runs an over. Singles and two’s were run swiftly, the understanding between this pair being almost telepathic .
In order to accommodate England’s World Cup tie against Sweden, an early tea was taken at 4:30 p.m. so players and spectators alike could catch the end of the soccer game. Reigate went into this 30-minute break on a score of 103-1 from 19 overs.
If Cranleigh hoped for inspiration from England’s quarter final win they were to be disappointed as Delmont and Murtagh continued on their merry way. Murtagh’s 50 came in 60 balls and Delmont’s in 82 balls. The 100 partnership came in 138 balls and the 150 partnership in 193 balls.
Just as Murtagh started to accelerate towards a century, his innings came unstuck as he was stumped off Broughton for 82 in 102 balls at 189-3.
His partnership with Delmont was worth 155 runs in 33 overs. And excellent though the partnership was, it still was 99 runs short of the record 2nd wicket partnership for the Priory that Murtagh and Delmont scored against Sunbury in 2012 in a stand of 254 runs.
Sam Hall put on 23 with Delmont before he was bowled by Scriven for 9 at 212-3. Then Angus Dahl hit two boundaries to push Reigate over the finishing line at 221-3 with some 20 overs to spare. Delmont was left on 86 not out from 110 balls.
The win keeps Reigate on top of the Surrey Championship tables, but the margin over Weybridge stays at 25 points as Weybridge won their match against Sunbury by just five runs with four balls to spare.
This weekend is a double-header for Reigate at Sunbury. On the Saturday the Llamas play third-placed Sunbury in league competition. Traditionally Sunbury always are a difficult opponent at their home ground, the Geoff Kaye Memorial Ground.
Then on the Sunday Reigate plays Guildford at Sunbury in the Surrey Championship Twenty20 semi-final. If Reigate advances, they’ll then play the winner of Sunbury and East Molesey in the final. The winner of the Surrey part of the competition then goes through into the national part of the competition.
Llama spin twins Luke Beaven and Michael Munday slowly strangled the opposition batting taking eight wickets between them in almost 48 overs of bowling from a total 64.3 overs that Cranleigh batted for, in making 218 all out.
Then it was a case of the Chris Murtagh and Any Delmont show in yet another match-winning partnership – this one for 155 runs - as Reigate knocked off the required runs with 20 overs to spare.
Cranleigh won the toss and opted to bat on another day of hot sunshine, a dry wicket and a dusty outfield. It was always going to be a spinner’s day and Murtagh wasted no time in bringing on his left-arm match-winner Luke Beaven for the second over of the innings.
And in 11 overs bowled from the pavilion end, Beaven twirled his way through the Sunbury upper order batting, such that after an hour’s play Cranleigh were 51-4.
Jack Scriven, younger brother of Reigate’s Brad Scriven, was first to go, well caught by Angus Dahl off Beaven for 13 at 20-1. Then Lloyd Paternott, making his debut for Cranleigh, was caught off Beaven for 6 at 34-2 by former skipper Neil Saker, playing in this game as a batsman in place of the injured Ben Shoare.
Will Hodson, who had opened the bowling from the Blue Anchor End and stormed in eventually for 12 consecutive overs in the heat, got his reward by getting Cranleigh’s number four batsman Andrew Hollingsworth leg before for 0 at 39-3.
And when Beaven had opener Lewis Bedford trapped leg before for 24 at 51-4, the spinner had taken three of the first four wickets for 20 in nine overs.
But Cranleigh did offer resistance and it came from number five bat Bruno Broughton and wicket-keeper Callum Kent.
Broughton, who last year played for Oxford MCCU, partnered first with the Australian all-rounder Marcus Atallah who plays for University of New South Wales, the club that both Scriven from Cranleigh and Dahl from Reigate played for last winter.
And indeed it was Dahl who reminded Atallah of just how fine a fielder he is when he ran out his Australian friend for 1 after Atallah and Broughton had partnered for 35 runs.
Broughton now was joined by Kent in what was to be a 55-run partnership over 14 overs, the biggest partnership of the innings. Not out 25 when Atallah was run out at 86-5, Broughton moved on to his 50 from 72 balls.
At 140-5 Kent, then on 23, was dropped off a skier off Munday’s bowling. But next ball Broughton was caught behind by wicket-keeper Sam Hall off the leg-spinner for 53.
Fast bowler Ed Tristem joined Kent and hit his third ball off Munday for 6. Emboldened by such success he swiped again at Munday three balls later and was well held at head height by Saker fielding on the mid-wicket boundary for just those 6 runs at 151-7.
Kent found a second partner in Cranleigh spinner Jonathan Gonszor and for 14 overs this pair withstood anything Munday and Beaven had to offer. But after a partnership of 44 together Kent was the man to depart, caught at slip by Danny Miller off Munday’s bowling for 45 at 195-8.
Cranleigh’s last two batsmen helped Gonszor push the score past the 200 mark but with the remaining two wickets being split between Munday and Beaven, Gonzor was left on 31 not out as Cranleigh finished all out on 218.
Beaven and Munday had bowled in tandem for the last 31.3 overs of the innings for the last five Cranleigh wickets, with Munday nabbing four of those five wickets to fall.
Beaven ended with figures of 4-83 from 26.3 overs and Munday ended with 4-72 from 21 overs.
Reigate started their innings as if in a whirlwind with Oliver smiting Jack Scriven for 4,4,6,4,2,1 (a total of 21 runs) in his first over, the second over of the game.
Next over, the third of the game, Oliver had his off stump knocked out of the ground by William Rollings at 34-1 and the former Worcestershire opener departed with 26 runs to his name made in just 12 balls.
Thereafter normal service was resumed as Delmont, 4 not out at the fall of the first wicket, joined up with old batting partner Chris Murtagh. As in many of their partnerships of old, this pair batted together without drama or fuss, scoring at the rate of over 4 runs an over. Singles and two’s were run swiftly, the understanding between this pair being almost telepathic .
In order to accommodate England’s World Cup tie against Sweden, an early tea was taken at 4:30 p.m. so players and spectators alike could catch the end of the soccer game. Reigate went into this 30-minute break on a score of 103-1 from 19 overs.
If Cranleigh hoped for inspiration from England’s quarter final win they were to be disappointed as Delmont and Murtagh continued on their merry way. Murtagh’s 50 came in 60 balls and Delmont’s in 82 balls. The 100 partnership came in 138 balls and the 150 partnership in 193 balls.
Just as Murtagh started to accelerate towards a century, his innings came unstuck as he was stumped off Broughton for 82 in 102 balls at 189-3.
His partnership with Delmont was worth 155 runs in 33 overs. And excellent though the partnership was, it still was 99 runs short of the record 2nd wicket partnership for the Priory that Murtagh and Delmont scored against Sunbury in 2012 in a stand of 254 runs.
Sam Hall put on 23 with Delmont before he was bowled by Scriven for 9 at 212-3. Then Angus Dahl hit two boundaries to push Reigate over the finishing line at 221-3 with some 20 overs to spare. Delmont was left on 86 not out from 110 balls.
The win keeps Reigate on top of the Surrey Championship tables, but the margin over Weybridge stays at 25 points as Weybridge won their match against Sunbury by just five runs with four balls to spare.
This weekend is a double-header for Reigate at Sunbury. On the Saturday the Llamas play third-placed Sunbury in league competition. Traditionally Sunbury always are a difficult opponent at their home ground, the Geoff Kaye Memorial Ground.
Then on the Sunday Reigate plays Guildford at Sunbury in the Surrey Championship Twenty20 semi-final. If Reigate advances, they’ll then play the winner of Sunbury and East Molesey in the final. The winner of the Surrey part of the competition then goes through into the national part of the competition.
Further reading