Ryman Surrey Championship Premier Division
Reigate Priory 194-8
Leatherhead 137
Reigate Priory won by 57 runs
REIGATE Priory held off Premier Division debutants Leatherhead in a rain-threatened 50-overs-a-side game at Park Lane on Saturday to win this new local derby by 57 runs.
Leatherhead won the toss and put Priory in to bat, a decision which soon yielded dividends. Andy Baker had Priory's Andy Delmont caught at midwicket at the end of the sixth over with the score at 26-1 before Jonathan Tribe, swinging the ball from the Blue Anchor End had both Chris Murtagh caught behind for a first ball duck and then Craig Cachopa, leg before, for just four runs.
Through the loss of these three wickets, Priory opener Richie Oliver had accumulated 31 of the 41 runs scored so far. Mike Burgess, Priory's 19-year-old wicketkeeper-batsman who plays for Loughborough MCCU, went at 61-4. And when Oliver was bowled by Nick Van Der Westhuizen for 53 off 67 balls at 75-5, Priory looked in serious trouble, particularly as Tye followed soon thereafter.
In two extraordinary seasons Leatherhead have risen from Division Two into the Premier Division, so they could have been forgiven any big ambitions they might have had at this stage of the game.
However, once again, Priory's lower-order batting came to the rescue. Last week, Luke Beaven and skipper Neil Saker put on 61 for the sixth wicket against Old Emanuel with Beaven making 57 and Saker 22. This week, for the seventh wicket, it was
Skipper Neil Saker made 34 in a 50-run partnership with Luke Beaven, who made 28. And for good measure Simon King at number nine then chipped in with 29 not out in 34 balls as the Priory bowlers turned a score of 94-6 off 26.3 overs into a competitive score of 194-8 off the full 50 overs.
Four of Leatherhead's six bowlers had impressive analyses with Tribe taking 3-33 off his ten overs, Baker 2-33 off nine overs, Van Der Westhuizen, Leatherhead's Australian professional from Perth, 2-39 off 10 overs and Adam Dyson 1-22 off ten overs.
But when Leatherhead's turn to bat came, they found the pitch every bit as difficult as Reigate had done before them. Saker drew first blood for the Priory when he had Leatherhead's 20-year-old Cardiff MCCU opener Adam Dyson caught behind for 12 at 21-1. Will Hodson had Leatherhead's wicketkeeper Chris Lyons smartly caught in the gully by Beaven for five and then nabbed the Leatherhead captain Matt Joblin leg before wicket for nine at 42-3.
Richie Just as the Leatherhead number three batsman Michael Nicol was starting to look dangerous, Oliver had him caught by Saker for 22. The rains came with Leatherhead at 61-4 off 18.5 overs, but when play resumed Leatherhead's steady procession of batsmen back to the pavilion continued.
Oliver picked up a second wicket as the watchful Michael Wakefield was caught behind for two off 27 balls. Steve Hirst then got among the wickets with 3-18 in a six over spell. One was the dangerous Joe Peak, who made 37. Peak had just hit a towering six to take Luke Beaven out of the attack. But five balls later he was stumped slickly by Michael Burgess, who had stumped Van Der Westhuizen in Hirst's previous over. Two stumpings and three catches in the Leatherhead innings made for a bumper day in the field for Priory's new keeper.
Former England, Middlesex and Hampshire spinner Shaun Udal had tried to biff the ball around when he batted, before Neil Saker returned for a two over spell and had Udal leg before for 15 runs. Udal during the Priory innings had had little luck with his bowling either, returning figures of nine overs for 44 runs and no wickets.
Leatherhead were all out for 137 in the 44th over leaving Priory the winners by 57 runs with a bonus point to boot. Aside from Hirst's three wickets, Saker, Hodson and Oliver had two wickets each., with analyses equally as impressive as Leatherhead's. Saker was 2-26 off eight overs, Hodson 2-28 off 8 overs and Oliver 2-18 also off 8 overs. King grabbed the last Leatherhead wicket to fall returning 1-10 in 4.2 overs.
