DULWICH 271(49.1)
beat
OLD WIMBLEDONIANS 258-9 (50)
by 13 runs
After a match of fluctuating fortunes, it was Dulwich who emerged victorious, winning their bottom of the table clash in Division 1 of the AJ Fordham Surrey Championship at home to Old Wimbledonians. John Lewis reports
Dulwich chose to bat, and took full advantage of the fielding restrictions to add 50 in eight overs before Ollie Steele fell for 33, off 32 balls.
His partner, 17-year-old Ollie Sykes then took over the charge, dominating a partnership of 87 in 13.3 overs with James Schofield. But both fell in successive overs.
Sykes was the first to go, having raced to 74, his highest championship score, off just 62 balls, while Schofield, who had played second fiddle, fell for 17 off 35.
The next three batsmen, skipper Chris Purshouse, Robbie Keaton and Dan Crowley were then each dismissed for 10 as Dulwich declined from 137-1 to a precarious 170-6.
This brought together Ahmed Khan and Jon Lodwick, who added 70 in 14 overs for the seventh wicket.
Lodwick was the first to go, having played a valuable supporting role in making 24 off 49 balls.
Khan advanced to his maiden Championship fifty before falling for 55, off 52 balls, with the score on 254.
Sammy Fookes, making his first team debut, and Kamran Munawar took the score to 271 before both fell to successive balls for 12 and 6 respectively as Dulwich were all out off the first ball of the final over.
Despite the loss of a wicket to Crowley in the third over Wimbledonians also took advantage of the fielding restrictions to put on 64 in the first 11 overs.
But the spin of Khan and Alex Gledhill slowed the scoring rate, and the next 11 overs brought just 41 runs.
Fookes joined the attack and dismissed Sushant Marathe with his second ball for 58, one less than he had scored in the first meeting between the sides.
Purshouse continued to rotate his spinners and was rewarded when Gledhill removed opener Tim Sealy-Fisher for 66 with the score on 167 in the 34th over.
Wimbledonians skipper Clint McCabe now came to the crease and went on the attack and the 200 came up for just three wickets in the 40th over.
But the Dulwich spinners kept chipping away. Fookes took the fourth wicket with the score on 201 in the 41st over, Khan got the fifth at 214 in the 44th, and Fookes claimed the sixth at 247 with the last ball of the 47th over, leaving 25 required off the last three overs.
The spinners were now bowled out, with Gledhill taking 1-41, Khan 1-44 and Fookes 3-49 off their ten overs.
Purshouse turned to his pacemen, and Crowley bowled the 48th, conceding six runs to leave 19 wanted off two. Lodwick then bowled a superb penultimate over in which he conceded just one run and took the vital wicket of McCabe, who had made 57 off 53 balls.
Crowley hit the stumps with the first two deliveries of the final over, and the last wicket pair could only manage four singles off the last four balls to give Dulwich victory by 13 runs.
Dulwich took 20 points from this match against eight for their opponents, and the two sides are now level in ninth place.
Both are now just four points behind Beddington in eighth place, whom Dulwich visit in another crucial match next week.
