Luke Haughton's Stag Outing

Richie won the toss and put Ashtead into bat with Jacob McLoughlin & Dickie Stevens firing the opening salvo against Damien Shirazi & Michael Sanderson. 37 runs came from the 1st 7 overs before the run rate was brought under control when a maiden from Dickie was followed up by a wicket for Jacob (7-2-29-1) when an excellent catch by Richie dismissed Damien Shirazi for an almost a run a ball 23.

With the score on 50-1 after 14 overs Hutch replaced Jacob and proceeded to bowl a short spell of 5 overs for just 10 runs before he and Dickie Stevens (9-1-34-0) gave way to the Llama spin twins. It was a return to familiar sights as Luke Beaven, back in action after a broken thumb, and Michael Munday bowled in tandem and with the last ball before the lunch break Michael found a faint edge & Sam Hall took the catch to dismiss Michael Sanderson for 40 (Michael had scored 59 against our 2’s earlier in the season) and Ashtead were 92-2 after 29 overs.

The Homes brothers were now together at the crease but in his 1st over after lunch Michael Munday dismissed Sam Homes lbw for a first ball duck to see Ashtead at 92-3. Tom Homes was joined by overseas Sri Lankan wicket keeper Manoj Sarathchandra but after 39 overs with the score on 127 Ashtead lost their 4th wicket when Manoj (22) became Luke’s 1st wicket when he was caught by Dickie Stevens.

The run rate was still well under control until a rare loose over from Michael went for 12 runs but Michael responded with the help of spin twin Luke when Luke took the catch to dismiss Tom Homes for 58 and Ashtead were 163-5 after 49 overs. In the 55th over with the score now on 177 Michael struck again in bowling Harry Williams (6) for Ashtead to lose their 6th wicket. Not done yet as Michael got his 5th wicket having Fred Davies caught by Rory Haughton for 200-7 and the pair repeated the dismissal with Michael getting his 6th wicket with unusually no maidens (21-0-89-6) when dismissing Marcus Caprano-Wint (1) and Ashtead were now 207-8 in the 63rd over.

Lukey’s (24-4-60-2) turn in the next over (64th) when he dismissed Aaron Rose (0) and Ashtead were 213-9 before finishing their innings 2 overs later on 224-9 after 66 overs.

With 56 overs available (The extra 2 overs above the minimum 120 match overs coming from having bowled our overs quickly) Richie and Luke opened for the Llamas and reached 33 after 8 overs when spin was introduced and with the last ball of his opening over Sam Homes enticed Richie out of his crease and Richie (19) was stumped by Manoj Sarathchandra and the Llamas lost their 1st wicket in the 10th over with the score at 35. Neil Saker (2) was then caught and bowled by Sam Homes and the Llamas were 41-2 after 13 overs.

The Haughton brothers were now together and facing the bowling of the Homes brothers. The Homes brothers were to win this part of the contest when in the 20th over Sam Homes had Rory Haughton (4) lbw for 56-3. Sam then got his 4th wicket (14-2-38-4) when Ali Raja was well caught at mid off by Aaron Rose and the Llamas were wobbling at 70-4 in the 27th over.

About half the overs left and 224 looked a long way away as Sam Hall joined Luke and the run rate increased with good running between the wickets and the occasional boundary as Luke passed his 50 the pair put on 60 before Sam was out for 23 caught and bowled by Ashtead Captain Tom Deighton.

The game was now in the balance as with the scoring rate of just over 3 an over the Llamas were now 130-5 after 39 overs with 17 overs left (at about a run a ball) to reach their target of 225. The target for the winning draw (worth 6 points) was 191 which was 61 more runs from 17 overs and a more manageable 3.5 an over. But with 5 overs left Ashtead still had an opportunity to win the game.

The cool calm presence of Dickie Stevens joined Luke Haughton as the game moved into the closing stages. The 1st batting bonus point came after 45 overs as the score reached 150-5.

Having dropped down to the 2nd eleven after a poor run of form Luke Haughton returned to the 1st team with some resolve and was rewarded when two overs later he reached his 1st eleven Surrey Championship Premier division maiden century, scored from 157 balls. More to come please Luke.

The 2nd batting bonus point arrived at 175 after 51 overs and with messages coming onto the field the spectators were uncertain whether the Llamas would settle for a draw or, with 50 required from 5 overs, go for a win. The pair passed their 50 partnership and then passed the 191 winning draw target but in the 55th over with the score on 195 and with the win no longer possible Dickie Stevens (20) was 6th wicket to fall when he was caught by Harry Williams off Aaron Rose (10-1-42-1).

Having gone all of July without passing 200, the last ball of the game saw Luke Haughton take the Llamas past 200 and gain the 3rd batting bonus point for the Llamas to take the winning draw ending their innings on 203-6 after 56 overs.

While the 12 points (winning draw 6, bowling bonus 3 and batting bonus 3) don’t make us mathematically safe from relegation; our fate is still in our own hands with the next 2 weeks fixtures against the bottom 2 teams (home to Banstead followed by away game v Cranleigh) before the final home game v East Molesey.