King five-for destroys Ashtead

Sunshine and a clear blue sky (which was a pleasant change to last week’s weather), was the picture for the visit of Ashtead 2nd XI to Park Lane for their game against the Reigate 2nd XI.
Having won the toss, Ashtead decided to have a bat, but unfortunately for them, that was not a wise choice. A fantastic opening bowling partnership from Daryl King and Matt Hutcheon meant that scoring was hard for the visitors. Having had 3 appeals for LBW turned down, Kingy finally got the breakthrough the Llamas deserved, leaving Ashtead 1 down while still in single figures. What followed was more great bowling from the opening pair. Figures of 5 overs, 0-9 probably wasn’t fair on Hutch, but working together meant that his partner Kingy ended with figures of 10 overs, 5-25 (5 out of the top 6 batsman).
Jack Beavan chipped in with 3 wickets with some decent pace, Sakes taking a good reaction catch in the slips off his bowling. Max Coyle and Chris Bond also chipped in with a wicket each, to dismiss the visitors for a below par 114. It was a very good, disciplined bowling performance from the Llamas, which probably wasn’t backed up fairly by the team in the field, with a few dropped catches (although some were quite comical).
The story with the bat was very similar. The opening pair of Neil Saker and Henry Tye led the response well, with Sakes playing some good aggressive strokes at times. A small altercation between Tye and the Ashtead wicketkeeper did make the home team on the side line laugh, but Tye did not lose his concentration. A slightly questionable decision to get him LBW for 13 didn’t really affect the team, who were on 58 at the fall of the wicket. Sakes hit another few lovely shots, but eventually fell for a well-played 34, although he had given the opposition quite a few chances previously. Stuart Mills fell for 9 with a very good ball from the Ashtead off spinner, but again, the team did not panic. Some good batting from Matt Hutcheon (16) and some big hitting from Will Irving (28) saw the Llamas over the line for the loss of just 3 wickets.
Another convincing win for the 2nd XI. Highlights were Daryl’s 5-25 (and the overall bowling performance of the team), as well as Neil’s 34 and Will’s entertaining 28 with the bat.