Week 1 saw a good start to the season with a victory at home to Ashtead-104 all out v 106-2 with 10 overs 3 wickets for 10 runs from Ben Donovan followed up with 68 n.o. from Sakes.

Week 2 and a poor bowling performance away saw Banstead (eventually relegated) amass 283-5 and despite Smudger’s 75, Galer’s 70 and Ali’s 50 we could only reach 255 all out.

Week 3 and another defeat, this time at home, saw us fall short at 186 all out (will Ali Raja 64) chasing East Molesey’s 211 with a 1st bowl of the season for Henry with 4 overs 2-15

Week 4 and back on track at Spencer where we defended 166-9, with Luke top scoring with 46, by dismissing Spencer for 129 with 4 wickets for Mobeen and 3 for Toby.

Week 5 was a visit to Dunsfold where Guildford were the hosts (Surrey were at Guildford) and on a dodgy wicket we dismissed them for 70; this time Toby getting 4 and Mobeen 3 wickets, before we got home with just 4 wickets down.

Week 6 and a win at home to Sunbury-127 all out- with wickets for Luke (4), Toby (3), Mobeen (2) and Ben (1) and then 55 n.o. from Smudger & 61 from Henry in our 130-2.

Week 7 and our winning run was ended when despite Rory’s 108 and Henry’s 69 in our 241-3, we couldn’t dismiss hosts Sutton (eventually relegated) who survived 69 overs on 122-8.

Week 8 back to Park Lane where we were outplayed by Weybridge for all but one over as our 203 all out with Rory’s 51 and Will Hodgson’s 40, was amazingly defended as Weybridge lost 4 wickets in the last over to finish 1 run short on 202.

Week 9 and a visit to eventual champions Wimbledon who scored 281-9 and Rory’s 95, Henry’s 64 and Luke’s 48 took us to a losing draw at 252-8.

Week 10 and hosts Ashtead got 304-7 where only Toby kept the score in check before we replied with Bradley Scriven getting a rapid 59 and Galer 57 n.o. in our losing draw of 250-8

Week 11 home to Banstead and Week 12 away at East Molesey both rained off.

Week 13 and visitors Spencer’s 223 all out looked plenty when we were 33-6, but 101 from Luke and the last 3 balls survived by Lodgy got a draw at 152-9

Week 14 and a poor performance at Park Lane where from 55-0 by Jordan & Ashwin, Guildford dismissed us for 132 and got 134-4 in reply.

Week 15 and another defeat but this time in a close game where Lofty’s 77 was the backbone of our 182 all out and hosts Sunbury at 183-9 got home with one wicket to spare.

Week 16 saw us get the season back on track with yet another tight finish, this time at home to Sutton (eventually relegated) where our 184-8, thanks to Jonny Flanders 60 n.o., was just enough to defeat Sutton’s 183 all out off the last ball.

Week 17 and our last away game at Weybridge where our 214-8 with Ashwin’s 70 was enough to defeat our hosts who finished on 184 all out with Toby getting 4 wickets and Ollie Simms 3 wickets.

Week 18 & our final game at home to table topping Wimbledon and our 178 all out with Jordan carrying his bat on 69 was brushed aside by Champions Wimbledon who reached 179-2 in just 37.1 overs with only Toby and Henry stemming the flow of runs.

League record 5th place mid table

Season record: 7 Wins, 5 Defeats and 4 Draws (1 winning & 3 losing) & 2 Cancelled
Home Record: 4 Wins, 3 Defeats and 1 Draw & 1 Cancelled
Away Record: 3 Wins, 2 Defeats and 3 Draws & 1 Cancelled

The Toss
Won the Toss 7 times with 4 Wins, 1 Defeats and 2 Draws
Lost the Toss 9 times with 3 Wins, 4 Defeats and 2 Draws
Batted 1st in 8 games with 4 Wins, 3 Defeats and 1 Draw
Batted 2nd in 8 games with 3 Wins, 2 Defeats and 3 Draws

Batting
We scored over 200 runs in 6 of the games with 1 Win, 1 Defeat and 4 Draws
We were all out in 5 games, 9 down in 2 games and 8 down in 5 games
Henry was 17th top scorer in the division (with 330 @ 27.5) with only Luke (24th with 275 runs @ 34) & Rory (27th with 272 @ 34) also in the League’s top 30
There were just 2 centurions with Rory’s 108 & Luke’s 101
Best average (for 5 or more games played) was Jordan @ 35.25

Bowling
Our strength was in our bowling where we bowled the opposition out in 9 games with 7 Wins, 1 Defeat and 1 Draw
Toby was equal 3rd in the division’s wicket takers with 26 wickets in just a dozen games played at a miserly economy rate of 2.89. Mobeen was also in the top 10 at 7th spot with 23 wickets and Henry and Luke each got 15 wickets each bowling in just 9 games.

Availability
Players were not available on a regular basis and 36 players appeared during the season (exactly the same as the 2018 season).
The following players appeared in half or more (8+) of the 16 games played :-
Galer & Henry (13), Toby & Mobeen (12), Luke (10), Ollie Simms (9) with Ollie T, Will Hodgson, Rory and Smudger all on 8
The number of appearances excludes the 2 cancelled games where the number would have been at least 37 as Amy Gordon was selected to play in one of the cancelled games.
Against a background of using 36 players, 5th place mid table could be seen as a fair return. It is difficult for players to get into and maintain form if they don’t play regularly. We of course recognise some members have young families with the commitment this brings and this opens up the opportunities for the younger players to make their mark; although University, College & School commitments also affects their term time availability.

Report Card
While the youngsters made their mark it was the contribution from the senior members of the side that often made the difference with Henry, Sakes, Ali Raja, Smudger, Galer, Lofty, Luke and Rory (before their promotion to the 1’s) all getting important runs. The senior members also made big contributions with the ball with Toby, Mobeen, Henry and Luke all to the fore.
For the youngsters, Will Hodgson impressed with both bat and ball and Ollie Simms’ dozen wickets suggests there’s more to come. Unfortunately Ollie Thilo was injured for a large part of the season but returned at full blast in the last game with a spell described by the Wimbledon captain as a hostile spell bowled at full pace. Ashwin Bhat’s late season appearances added to our batting stability as did Jordan Bunyan.

Highlights
Close games (win, lose or draw) often provide the drama and we had our share this season. With 10 minutes game time left Weybridge needed 2 to win with 4 wickets left in what they believed to be the final over-as it turned out it was the final over as they lost all 4 wickets in one over bowled by Lodgy. A last ball finish against Sutton who needed 2 to win, 1 to tie with 1 wicket and 1 ball left saw Max Coyle take a catch off Mobeen’s bowling to win the game. We were on the other end of 2 more tight games with one defeat at Sunbury who were 9 down and a draw against Spencer when we were 33-6 and recovered with Luke’s ton to survive at 9 down.

Player of the season: Toby Briggs