Naylor in the mood

Aug 20 2008 Surrey Herald

SURREY CHAMPIONSHIP PREMIER DIVISION Wimbledon 227-6 Avorians 228-8 Avorians won by two wickets

A CRUCIAL half-century from acting skipper Steve Naylor sealed victory over promotion-hunting Wimbledon on Saturday.

Chasing a testing target, Mark Higgs raced to 50, spraying the ball all over the ground. The first wicket fell at 93, with the Aussie star out for 64 off 42 balls including 10 fours and two sixes. Naylor came in with the Avorians on 122-3 and with the help of Scott Jarvis (31), pushed the score up to 195-4. With only 32 runs to get

Avorians made hard work of reaching the target with plenty of wickets and overs left.

Naylor stuck to his task to finish with an unbeaten 51, while the wickets fell at the over end. The winning mark was finally reached with six overs still to go.

Earlier, Wimbledon were soon in trouble at 13-3. Jaffer and Davies put on a 100 stand before Jaffer went for 62, caught behind by Ben Kingsnorth off the bowling of Stuart Tomlinson. Wimbledon were on 189-5 with only five overs to go before some lusty late hitting boosted the total.

SURREY CHAMPIONSHIP DIVISION ONE Weybridge 170 all out Banstead 171-3 Weybridge lost by seven wickets

WEYBRIDGE'S batting let them down as their good recent run came to a sudden halt at Banstead on Saturday.

In an extraordinarily lop-sided scorecard, David Court and Akbar Ansari contributed 136 of Weybridge's total, while none of the other eight batsmen managed to reach double figures.

The pair came together with Weybridge on 15-3 and their partnership was worth 103. Banstead had little trouble knocking off the runs, reaching 72 before they lost the first wicket.

SURREY CHAMPIONSHIP DIVISION ONE Walton 160 all out Ashtead 163-4 Walton lost by six wickets

WALTON'S hopes were dented when they were outgunned by an Ashtead outfit recording their first win in five matches.

They made a good start, with Matthew Howells and Neil Farnsworth making the most of their chances.

Farnsworth in particular battled hard on the difficult track and played some full-blooded strokes to record a decent 72.

His 50-run stand with Mark Bainbridge (13), seemed at one point to be setting up a significant total, but misjudged running cost Bainbridge his wicket.

After a mid-order collapse only an attacking innings from Vaughan enabled Walton to set a competitive target.

When Ashtead replied it was an unbeaten 62 from skipper Jamie Powell that formed the backbone of their winning score.

Barrow (1-32) De-Reuck (1-27) and Bainbridge (1-71) took the wickets for Walton.

SURREY CHAMPIONSHIP DIVISION ONE East Molesey 111 all out Esher 112-5 Esher won by five wickets

A SUPERB spell of bowling by Kurham Irshad put Esher on the road to a comfortable five-wicket win over their neighbours on Saturday.

Irshad bowled 13 overs, including four maidens, to take 6-25, including the last four batsmen, who made just three runs between them.

Of the East Molesey batsmen, only Henry Glynn (37), made any real impression.

Esher opener Thushara Managei was in fine form, hitting 69no off 89 balls, including six fours and two sixes.

Wickets fell at the other end until Charlie Russell made sure of victory with 13no.

SURREY CHAMPIONSHIP DIVISION FOUR Kingstonian 238-7 Chertsey 183-7 Losing draw for Chertsey

PHIL Boast gained little reward for a fine spell of bowling as Chertsey came off on the wrong end of a draw in Saturday's basement battle.

Boast claimed 5-75 in a marathon 16-over stint, but with Kingstonian opener Imran Khalid making 82 and surviving two strong lbw claims, before he became one of Boast's victims, the basement boys were able to set a tough target.

In reply, Chertsey could only reach 183-7 at the close. Chertsey were in the game for long periods, only to be undone by some controversial umpiring - losing four wickets to contentious lbw decisions.

Brendan Byrne top-scored with 41 and there was a good contribution from John Dodd, while Boast and Rick Redmond came together for a battling seventh wicket part-nership that realised 42 runs.

Chertsey are now in bottom spot but still have three games left to save themselves, starting with a short trip to a Woking & Horsell side who are also struggling fourth from bottom.