O’Connell on song to keep Claygate in the hunt

Claygate 1 st XI scraped through to a vital 37 point win in the Surrey Downs league against South Park Manor with a 1 wicket victory at Dalmore Avenue. The hero for Claygate was Mark O’Connell who was the pick of the bowlers with 5 for 43, backed up by Tom McKinley (2 for 43) and captain Dillon Woods (2 for 7), and then scored the crucial runs at the end when the result could have gone either way. Claygate were cruising at 120 for 4 (Matt Weston 48) chasing down South Park Manor’s 169 but then lost 5 wickets before the last wicket pair saw them home in a very tense finish.

The Sunday 1 st XI also managed a win but by the rather wider margin of 8 wickets. Long Ditton probably welcomed the invitation to bat first and built their innings steadily to reach 224 for 7 (Gerard Savage making an elegant 96 and youngster Ormerod a fine 51). The Claygate bowling was again led by Mark O’Connell (5 for 39) supported by Dave Price (2 for 34). In reply Rufus Legg and Dick Murphy looked like they might win the game without losing a wicket as they put on 185 against some mixed bowling. But Murphy fell for 73 leaving Legg (115 not out) and an out of retirement Dave Powell to finish the run chase off.

The Sunday 2 nd XI could not keep up the winning run as they could only muster 116 with a depleted team at Old Paulines. Danny Simmons made a useful 48 and Andy Spector rolled back the years to take 4 wickets before they succumbed to a 5 wicket loss.

The 3 rd XI, skippered for the first time by 17 year old Joel Watkins, won an exciting 20/20 match against Long Ditton. Dave Price bowled well to help restrict Long Ditton to 93 in their 20 overs. Justin Hannaford produced a champagne moment by hitting the penultimate ball for a big six to win the match by 2 wickets.