All Round Elliston Slays Dons

Match Report courtesy of David Wills (WCC)

Games between Wimbledon and Reigate are always one of the highlights of the season and this one gave plenty of excitement. Reigate elected to bat first on a fresh pitch and found themselves in early trouble with a wicket a piece for new ball bowlers Leonard and C Anand. When change bowlers Gunn and Khera also picked up wickets the visitors were in real trouble at 42/4. Tye and Irving set about rebuilding the innings with a solid partnership of 57 but all this good work was undone with a clatter of wickets as spinners A Patel and Kumar picked up 4 wickets for 8 runs as Reigate collapsed to 107/8. At this stage Reigate appeared to be out of the contest but Wimbledon hadn't reckoned on number 10 Elliston who launched a blistering attack on the bowlers smashing 42 from just 27 balls. Well supported by McInley and Briggs he saw Reigate finish on a very respectable 184/9 from their 40 overs. This was no better than a par score but had given the visitors hope and seen the momentum swing significantly in their favour.

The early signs for the Wimbledon chase were good as 22 runs came from the first 3 overs with a pair of boundaries a piece for the Wimbledon openers. However, the complexion of the game changed as two wickets in 3 balls saw both openers back in the pavilion and when Smith followed shortly after to leave the score 33/3 Reigate were well on top. Khera and Sewell rebuilt with a useful partnership of 35, but the wicket of Sewell signalled a regular procession of wickets as the home side slumped to 92/7. Wimbledon have a very strong batting line-up, however, and even 7 down had two batsmen in the middle used to batting in the top 4. A Patel and Gunn looked to be establishing a partnership when A Patel departed for 14 to bring C Anand to the crease. Still the game was not done and the 9th wicket pair had started to swing the momentum back in Wimbledon's favour as they reduced the target to 42 in the 35th over.

Just as they looked like they were in control, disaster struck for the home side as Gunn was deceived by a slower ball, skying a catch to depart for 20. Last man Leonard joined C Anand at the crease in a seemingly hopeless position. For the second time in the day, however, lower order runs continued to flow and C Anand was in excellent touch scoring from nearly every ball with a number of boundaries thrown in for good measure. Leonard was looking secure and picking up the easy singles on offer as the target came down to 19 from 18 balls. The pressure was starting to tell on the bowlers and a drag down enabled Leonard to pull away an easy boundary to reduce the target to just 8 from the final two overs. Reigate turned back to spearhead Elliston but the pressure continued to tell with singles and wides reducing the target to just 4 to win and suddenly Wimbledon were favourites. A leg-side delivery from Elliston saw Leonard look to clip it away for the winning runs, only for the ball to flick his glove on the way to wicket-keeper Bhat as Reigate celebrated with a great sense of relief. Wimbledon has added 70 runs for their final 2 wickets only to come up 4 runs short! C Anand had played an outstanding innings to finish unbeaten on 34 from just 29 balls.

So an exciting game that ebbed and flowed - the failings of the top order on both sides made up for by excellent lower order batting as nearly 150 runs were added by the 9th and 10th wickets across the match! Reigate look well placed to go on and claim the Challenge Cup title, although East Molesey may still have a say in that. Wimbledon move on to a home game against Esher.