Llamas finish season on high

Four wins from the final four matches, culminating in a comprehensive demolition of Weybridge was not quite enough to secure the Surrey Championship title. A second place finish however represents solid progress for Richie Oliver’s men from a disappointing 6th place finish in 2021.

The final day begun with the Llamas in 3rd place having a slim chance of clinching the league title. Victory against Weybridge was a necessity, as was defeat for the top two sides Wimbledon and East Molesey.

The day began well as Reigate won the toss and invited Weybridge to bat first. Richard Stevens so often a threat with the new ball this season, again made the early breakthrough as Northamptonshire’s Ben Curran was well caught at mid-wicket by Andy Delmont from a mis-timed pull shot.

Stevens continued to stampede in from the top end as he bowled 10 consecutive overs for a return of 3/27, passing 200 first team career league wickets in the process. Jacob McLoughlin chipped in with the wicket of Surrey U/18 batsman Stuart van der Merwe, but it was leg-spinner Michael Munday who expedited the Weybridge collapse to 122 all out with a spell of 5/14 from 8 overs. This was Munday’s best return of the season as he passed 50 wickets in a season for Reigate for the first time. The only resistance came from former Somerset and Glamorgan all-rounder Craig Meschede who was bowled for 72 attempting an ambitious reverse hoick at Munday.

The Llamas in-form batting line-up were unlikely to struggle scoring the 123 runs required for victory and so it proved as only Richie Oliver (50*) and Sam Hall (65*) were required to bat as Reigate cruised to victory by 10 wickets in only 19.1 overs. Richie was the leading run-scorer for the season with 675, while both Hall and overseas star Alex Ross passed the 500 run mark.

By the time the match finished just before 3pm, it was already apparent that Wimbledon would defeat Ashtead to secure the league title. Meanwhile defeat for depending champions East Molesey meant the Llamas would end up in second place with an overall record of 11 wins, 3 draws and 4 losses.