Warlingham captured the prized wicket of Woking’s most prolific batsmen, Tom Dunbar, with the first ball of their innings and soon had Hubble caught behind by the makeshift keeper, Nishan Naidoo, for 9. Tom Green and James Woods then took the score steadily up to 69 before Naidoo had another victim: Green stumped for 22 off Mahesh Amin. With a steady drizzle making things difficult for bowlers and fielders, Warlingham managed to keep the scoring rate down and below the par score that would have become applicable if play was halted, in fact Woking were behind the rate until the 39^th over.  Amin got a second wicket, dismissing Woods for a patient 51 at 104-4 and with the drizzle becoming heavier and the light decidedly murky, Warlingham could almost have snatched an unlikely win by the workings of the “mini Duckworth-Lewis” formula. However, the weather gods favoured the league leaders, as did the cricketing gods when a key moment arrived with the score on 129-4. Mansoor Mirza came back for a second spell and his first ball brought a confident appeal for caught behind against Ryan Pogson, which he survived and then promptly hit 14 runs from the rest of the over.  Pogson finished with 57 not out to see the visitors home by 5 wickets with seven overs to spare and they lead the division by 5 points with two games remaining.

Warlingham 172, 47.1 overs, Woking & Horsell 173-5, 42.5 overs.

Cranleigh’s imposing total of 271-4 was based on Ajantha Weerappuli’s 63 and a 95 run unbroken stand between Ajaz Patel who was unbeaten on 91 and Harry Thomas who reached a 26 ball 50 by hitting the last ball of the innings for 6. A high score had looked likely as, after electing to field, the visitor’s attack bowled too many loose balls. Mahesh Amin retrieved the situation in the middle of the innings with a great 10 over spell of 1-24, but once his allotment was over, Cranleigh’s onslaught on the other bowlers ensured them the bonus-point win and left Warlingham rooted at the foot of the table with a second successive relegation looming.

Cranleigh 271-4, 50 overs.  Warlingham 212-8, 50 overs.

Sinjungrammarians lost an early wicket, but Patrick Garvey had no intention of delaying the inevitable and helped himself to 50 not out in 55 balls with 6 x 4s and 2 x 6s. The nine wicket win was completed just after 4.30 which would have been even earlier if it wasn’t for the 20 extras kindly donated by the visitors.

Warlingham 93, 32.5 overs, Sinjungrammarians 95-1, 23.1 overs.

Cuckfield 183-5, 43 overs, Warlingham 185-5, 38.5 overs

Howard Owens blasted 116 from 72 balls to propel the Wednesday XI to their fifth win of the season against Cuckfield over 40s. Going in at 24-3 still needing 160 for victory, Howard reached his 50 with his 12th four from 36 balls and only took 24 more balls to pass three figures. In all he hit 25 4s in his 116 before he was bowled with just 4 runs needed. Grahame Webb who made 41 helped him add 143 which is the highest 4th wicket partnership in the club since Steve Horrocks and Denham Earl added 165 against Sanderstead in 2000.

Strangley, he scored none of his runs in the third man area, as can be seen from the scoring zones chart.

Howard also took 2-6 in 2 overs and almost took two catches as

Wickets fell regularly in the visitor’s innings as Ricky Patel bowled a 16 over spell and took 4-50, and it took a 57 run partnership between Rupert Hazell and Adrian St John for the eight wicket to enable Alleyn to post an all-out total of 186 in 46 overs. Hazell scored 73 before being last out and St. John made 20 after Bevan had earlier made 30.

With 54 overs to bat Warlingham, who were missing several First XI regulars, began promisingly enough despite losing Nihal Patel in the fifth over. Amit Patel and Rowen Dayal both hitting several boundaries and reaching 40 when Amit, on 25, gave a sharp caught-and-bowled chance to become Bevan’s second victim. Bevan then took three more wickets in his next two overs to leave the home team’s innings in terminal decline. Dan Goodwin then came on at the Tennis Court End, removed Dayal for 16 and helped Bevan to mop up the tail, who put up no resistance, with 4 wickets for 2 runs in 3.4 overs.

Alleyn & Honor Oak 186, 46.1 overs, Warlingham 59, 19.4 overs.

Stains & Laleham lost two early wickets, but the result was never in doubt as Adam Smith with 30 and Felix Walker with 28 not out earned their side a comfortable 6 wicket win.

Warlingham 101, 34.5 overs, Stains & Laleham 104-4, 23.4 overs.

On a brighter note, Andy McNamee made his highest score for the club when he made 114 for the 2nd XI against Purley, although he couldn’t prevent his side losing by 3 wickets.

Nishan Naidoo started briskly as usual but was soon out for 19 and then the innings slowed against the accurate Greyvies and Dale Stoken who took the first three wickets for 22 in an eleven over spell. Nihal Patel tried to force the pace with little support from the other end and when he was fifth out, having achieved his best 1st XI score of 42, the home team needed 115 from 14 overs.  Nihal was bowled by Mike Rogerson which brought Hitesh Patel to the wicket to join Dan Chrystie, Between them, they hit 18 from a Greyvies over but in the next over from Rogerson Hitesh ran himself out for a quick 13 from 6 balls and Amit Patel was bowled for a primary. With 85 still needed from the last 11 overs Chrystie and Ash Patel kept up the charge and got Warlingham past the winning draw target in a stand of 49 for the 8th wicket but, needing 10 an over for victory, Ash hit out once too often and was Stoken’s fourth victim for 26.  Accepting that the win was not possible, Chrystie played out a couple of maidens but was bowled for 34 by Rogerson at the start of the 45th over, leaving Amin to play time and secure the four points for Warlingham. Stoken took 4-35 and Rogerson 3-24.

Warlingham cannot complain at Mitcham’s declaration leaving them 10 overs less to bat, because, after all, they won the toss and put them in.  Equally, Mitcham cannot criticise Warlingham for looking as though they were satisfied with draw from the outset as they had asked the division’s bottom club to better their previous highest second innings of the season by more than 70 runs for victory.

Mitcham 223-6, 55 overs, Warlingham 187-9, 45 overs

Set 241 to win in 46 overs on a pitch of variable bounce, Warlingham set off in T20 mode with Nishan Naidoo hitting 25 from the first two overs from Richard De Mel, while at the other Kenlock had both Shane Patel and Ed Clarke caught at short leg by Scott Payton. Naidoo, taking his stance well out of his crease, continued to drive imperiously until, in the 8th over with the score on 49, he was third out when Kenlock had him lbw for 37 from only 27 balls. From this point the batsmen put up little resistance until Tim Slade, coming in at 87-7, gave the long suffering supporters a little light relief when, after taking a single off the only ball he faced from Kenlock, he smote 8 fours from the other end in a swashbuckling innings of 29 balls that saw Warlingham eventually reach 128 before he was last out for 39.

Southern Railway & Kenley had Kasim Saddiqui and Martin Duckworth to thank for stabilising their innings after Mansoor Mirza had reduced them to 6-2 following being put in when the home team won the toss. They added 115 in 36 overs until Mahesh Amin removed Duckworth for 67 – the first of his 4 victims. Saddiqui was stumped by Andy Crutcher for 55 and at 181-6 after 49 overs, Warlingham seemed to have done a reasonable job of containment. Skipper Ray Tudor, however, had other ideas and proceeded to launch a ruthless attack on the tiring bowlers. After he hit 19 off the 53rd over, some observers might have thought that 217 was enough for Warlingham’s struggling batsmen (the last time Warlingham 1st XI scored more than 200 to win was four years ago) but Tudor had either less confidence in his bowlers than they merited, or perhaps he was, understandably, just enjoying himself. In delaying the declaration until the 5th ball of the 55th over on 240-6, he was able inflict more pain on the home team as he reached 58 not out in 28 balls including 4 huge sixes. He had put on 59 with Kenlock who made 5. In the event, the timing of the declaration was academic as SR & K won by 112 with more than 15 overs to spare.

NB: Kenlock took 5-47 in 16 overs for Edward Alleyn & Honor Oak in drawn match in 2007 and 4-24 in 18 overs for Dulwich in 2002 when we lost by 126 runs.

PS: There were many Warlingham players at the club as the match started, who were not playing due to wedding of another club member. When I get swept to power, it will be illegal to invite club members to weddings in the cricket season, unless the opposition is invited too – even better – invite just the opposition.

Southern Railway & Kenley 240-6, 54.5 overs; Warlingham 128, 30.4 overs

Put in after losing the toss, Nigel Field and Shane Patel gave Warlingham their best start of the season with 63 for the first wicket before Field, making a welcome re-appearance following his ‘retirement’ last year, ran himself out for 24. Nishan Naidoo accelerated the score with typically powerful straight drives and Shane looked to be back in his form of last year while making a solid 64. The visitors were going well at 128-1 after 37 overs, but the introduction of Stephen Morgans changed the game as he bowled Shane in his second over and had Naidoo caught behind for 49 in his third. His fourth over saw Monish Patel run out and in his fifth he trapped Mirza lbw. Hitesh Patel tried to keep the runs coming at the other end but in the 47th over he ran out Ash Patel and Tim Slade became Adam Lowe’s 2nd victim off the deserving Nabil Akhtar. Hitesh promptly gave Morgans his fourth wicket when he missed a straight one on 23 and Warlingham had subsided to 185-8 having looked likely to make in excess of 230 only ten overs earlier. Dan Chrystie, with some classy cover drives, and Ricky Patel, with a couple of off-zips for four, stopped the rot as they reached 16 apiece enabling Shane Patel to make a positive declaration on 219 after 5 balls of the 52nd over. Morgans took 4-50 and Akhtar 1-56 from 17 overs

After the early loss of Morris, Contractor and Salam Abdul soon had Hamptonians ahead of the asking rate and as they calmly set about building a big partnership, the declaration looked increasingly generous. Contractor’s 50 came up in only 49 balls and the 100 partnership in 128. Warlingham never looked like taking a wicket and found it difficult to slow run rate until Kiran Patel came on with his off-breaks, and it was he that eventually achieved the break-through, having Abdul stumped for 44. If there was a chink of light for the visitors, it didn’t last long as Hafeez Qurashi was soon into his stride. Contractor reached his match winning 100 from 114 balls and in the same over hit the winning run leaving Qurashi 36 not out as Hamptonians won by eight wickets with 15 balls to spare.

Warlingham 219-8, 51.5 overs; Old Hamptonians 220-2, 46.3 overs