VALLEY End extended their winless run in the AJ Sports Surrey Championship to three games with a 57-run home defeat by Walton on Thames last Saturday.
The hosts were without skipper Tom Nevin and ex-Gloucestershire player Ed Young for the 1st XI Division One match at Woodlands Lane and slumped to 160 all out when chasing 218 for victory.
Put in, Walton recovered from 98-5 to post 217 all out off 61.3 overs, Christopher Cole and Evan Beck scoring 35 apiece and sharing a 58-run stand for the eighth wicket.
However, top-scorer for the visitors was extras (36).
Overseas player and acting captain Josh Dodd was in fine form with the leather for Valley, grabbing 5-43 in 16.3 overs. Charlie Dunnett weighed in with 3-42 from 13 overs.
Valley were in big trouble at 44-4 in response. Number six Dodd (42 from 44 balls) and number seven Olli Dunnett (35) frustrated Walton, but the final four wickets tumbled for seven runs and the end came after 42.4 overs. Walton’s Nicholas Wilson snapped up 5-38 from 11.4 overs.
Skipper Henri Peters fell just short of a century as Woking & Horsell drew at Old Pauline in 1st XI Division Four.
The Thames Ditton-based hosts opted to bat and racked up 239-7 declared in 52 overs, Samuel Cato (57) and Oscar Dimdore-Miles (78) contributing 129 for the third wicket. Extras (25) proved the third-highest scorer.
Elliott McPherson was the most successful Woking & Horsell bowler, picking up 3-63 off 11 overs.
Sri Lankan star Shehan Fernando departed for a duck when the guests replied. But his fellow opener Peters was joined by Tim Keene and they added 104 for the second wicket. The pair were separated when Keene was bowled for 39.
Peters went on to make 97 off 128 deliveries, the knock including ten boundaries. He was seventh out.
Wicketkeeper Lahiru Moses hit a six and five fours in his 26-ball 37 as Woking & Horsell finished with 211-7 from 48 overs, Upneet Arora and Johnnie Benson grabbing two wickets apiece.
Byfleet lost their final five wickets for 11 runs but still did enough to beat travellers Lingfield emphatically in the Shepherd Neame Surrey County League 1st XI Premier.
Electing to bat, Byfleet made their way to 66 without loss but were shot out for 203 in 40 overs.
Leading scorer was George Mickley, whose 56 spanned 45 deliveries and included eight boundaries. Opener Tim Richards was also in a hurry, his 41 coming off 34 balls and featuring a six and five fours.
And South African Riley Coutts cracked 42 – with a six and five fours – off 46 balls.
However, of the other batters, only Alfie Mickley (35) got into double figures.
Lingfield’s Callum Forbes, Will Mason and Simon Hooker pocketed two wickets apiece.
However, with Charlie Black swooping for 5-25 from 15 overs and Coutts snaring 3-42 off 13.4 overs, the guests were removed for 153, having been 70-1, to hand Byfleet victory by 50 runs.
Best of the Lingfeld batters in 48.4-over innings were Thomas Mitchell (36), Scott Eason (31) and Forbes (31).
Local sides are piling the pressure on 1st XI Division One leaders Merstham as the season enters its second half.
Chobham consolidated second place by thumping hosts Putney by 54 runs, shooting out the Londoners for 131 off 41 overs.
The Surrey Heath men decided to bat but were held to 185-8 in 45 overs, Harry Bowman (31), Alex Kurobasa (30) and extras (26) top-scoring. Putney’s Isaac Rolph had 3-36 off six overs.
Alex Trevers pounced for 4-20 from six overs when the home team replied, Alex Ockwell (45) the leading scorer.
Ripley are in third place after toppling visitors Merton by three wickets.
With Matt Russell snaffling 4-53 off eight overs and Australian Braydon Pink claiming 3-30 from nine overs, Merton were skittled for 195.
By far the chief run-getter in the 36.5-over innings was number six Pieter Brits (78).
Number ten Waqas Khan made 33 and put on 84 with Brits for the ninth wicket.
Opener Adam Fenby made 31 for the capital team, who slumped to 85-6.
Like in the Merton innings, Ripley had one batter who stood head and shoulders above his team-mates. The home side’s hero was number four Tim Russell, who hit 88.
Of the other batters, only Will Jenner (23) put together more than 16.
However, with George Geaves and Stewart Burgess each unbeaten on 15, Ripley reached 196-7 in 43.2 overs, Srivatsa Govindarajan securing 3-41 off 7.2 overs.
Ottershaw squeezed past visitors Warlingham by two wickets in a low-scoring 1st XI Division Three encounter.
Told to bat, the guests were back in the hutch for 86. Only two of their batters made it into double figures in the 32-over innings.
Ottershaw bowlers Farhal Mughal and Hasan Raza were in fabulous form, taking 4-16 in seven overs and 3-17 off nine overs respectively.
But the Otters found the going tough when they came to the crease, crashing to 38-4 and getting over the line at 87-8 in 24.3 overs.
Skipper Raheel Khan (25 not out) and Jahangir Malik (25) were the pick of the batters, Raza (13) the only other player to reach double figures.
Agney Das hammered a rapid 96 but could not stop Old Woking suffering a second successive defeat in Surrey Downs League Division One.
Das whacked three sixes and 15 fours in a 65-ball knock as the hosts lost by seven wickets to Shere.
Old Woking were displaced for 236 in 39.2 overs after being inserted, number three Das far and away the leading scorer.
Ethan Maher made 31 and played understudy to Das as the pair put on 95 for the second wicket. Nico Thelogo chipped in with 24.
Teddy Previte (3-12 from five overs) and George Fountain (3-37 in eight overs) stood out with the ball.
Theologo and Sanjeev Bidur each managed a wicket when Shere replied.
But with A Still (65), Charlie Miller (62 not out), Nathan Kerslake (47) and Fountain (32) on song, the travellers eased their way to 239-3 in 39 overs.
Pirbright have reached the midway point of the I’Anson Cup Division Two season without a win after being beaten by three wickets at Peper Harow.
But the men from The Gardens on the Green can take heart from their biggest total of the year, 243-7.
It came after Pirbright elected to take first knock and was inspired by a wonderful 134 from Elex van Rensburg.
The number three faced 96 balls and smashed seven sixes and 15 boundaries.
He was by far the dominant partner in a second-wicket stand with Rupert Howe that yielded 159 runs.
Howe was ousted for a gritty 28 from 85 balls.
Oli Percival added 34 when batting at number five in Pirbright’s 45-over innings.
The visitors’ Tom Spooner and Khaqan Aziz-Dar each bagged two wickets.
Pirbright were on course for their maiden victory of 2023 when they had Peper Harow 62-4 in reply.
But Spooner (79) and captain Faisal Ahmad (68) turned the game around with a 97-run stand for the fifth wicket.
Ahmad and Awais Ghaffar (34 not out) then put on 56 for the sixth wicket, and victory was in sight for the Godalming-area side.
The win was achieved at 244-7 off 41.3 overs, Pirbright’s Robbie White returning 3-73 in ten overs.
There is no stopping Worplesdon & Burpham in Division Four at the moment.
They made it six wins on the bounce by defeating Hampshire team Kingsley by three wickets.
Hosts Kingsley were all out for 133 in 36.2 overs after being put in, James Boxford (50) and Mark Broadmeadow (34) the top scorers.
Thomas Hinch (2-20 off nine overs), Charlie Fewings (3-26 in nine overs) and Mitchell Rogers (3-23 from 6.2 overs) did most of the damage.
Jithesh Krishnan (27), Shahbaz Malik (25) and Fewings (21 not out) were prominent as Worplesdon & Burpham made their way to 136-7 off 36.1 overs, Kingsley’s Matthew Cooper taking three cheap wickets.
Westfield Saints pipped hosts Worplesdon & Burpham third XI by one wicket last Sunday in The Village Cricket League Division Two.
Muaz Hussain (41) led the way for the home side, who were put in and clocked up 182-5 in 45 overs.
Clayton Miles (1-17 off eight overs) was the best of the Saints’ five wicket-takers.
Westfield opener Neil Cheetham came close to carrying his bat in the response.
He made 78 and was ninth out, with his team just four runs short of victory.
The Saints, who had been 34-3 and 128-7, got home at 183-9 off 39.2 overs, Rogers collecting 3-22 in ten overs.