Match Report

Team News: Paul Willis (Captain), Andy White, Chris Norton, Luke Carter, Neil Stewart, Nick Bailey, Andy Robson, Stuart Peplow, Taidhg Randall, Graham Francis and Richard Singleton.

Chessington 1st XI travelled into the smoke for their game against Streatham & Marlborough. The team now is on the back of 4 straight wins and lying outright second in the league.

The team did a very hurried warm up and was asked to field on a very damp wicket which definitely looked like would offer assistance to the bowlers. Randall was back from sunning himself in Malta and opened the bowling. Singleton, on the back of his good form was given the new ball and opened from the bottom end. Both bowlers couldn’t quite find their best stuff and were replaced by Carter and Robson. Carter claimed the first wicket when Stephens (19) was caught by Stewart at mid-wicket. Ellis (30) followed soon after when giving a catch to Randall also at mid-wicket of the bowling of Robson.

Chessington will concede that it was pretty slow going and hard to build any momentum as Stanley and DeRuyter played freely to take the score to 95 when Stanley (28) departed when driving to Carter in covers and very soon after DeRuyter did the same, both of the bowling of Robson. It was 100-4 when Randall returned and immediately bowled Fuller however; this brought the partnership of Bush and Khan. Both batsmen got themselves in and punished every bad ball that was being delivered. A useful partnership of 52 was put together before finally breaking through and Khan was caught on the boundary by Peplow for 21.

Streatham & Marlborough were eventually bowled out for 195 of 51.5 overs. With conditions as they were, chasing that score was going to take a massive effort from the batsmen.

Pick of bowlers: Carter 4-30 and Robson 4-46

White and Peplow opened against the old ball and two spinners. Peplow was first to go at the score of 2 and then Carter quickly followed as was to be adjudged lbw which looked dubious from the boundary. Nether the less, Chessy were 2-2. Stewart and White had the task of rebuilding a poor start and put together a partnership of 25 when White was bowled by Khan.

Willis played the support role to Stewart who was timing the ball very well and they both took the score to 74 when McGill took the new ball and bowled Willis for 17. Norton coming in at 6 saw Stewart complete his 50 with some stylish strokes before getting a ball that bounced and was caught at cover the next ball. Norton and Robson, continued the momentum and put on 42 before Robson holed out to deep mid-wicket for 6 off the bowling of Mortimore. Bailey came to the crease and hit some nice shots. Norton, looking to get close to the target holed out for 44 and Bailey was bowled for 15. 157 on the board and 2 wickets left.

Francis holed out to mid off and Singleton was adjudged lbw and the game was lost.

Pick of the Batters Niall Stewart 50, Chris Norton 44.  

 Match Report

Team News: Paul Willis (Captain), Andy White, Chris Norton, Luke Carter, Neil Stewart, Nick Bailey, Andy Robson, Stuart Peplow, Sohaib Qureshi, Graham Francis and Richard Singleton.

Round 9 denotes the half way stage of the season where Chessington 1^st XI welcomed Leatherhead and Cobham. Team news, Tadgh Randall was on holiday so Sobby steps in for his first 1^st XI appearance of the season.

Back to usual as Skipper Paul Willis managed to lose another toss and Leatherhead decided to have a bat. The pitch was in good nick however, some early morning rain made the conditions quite even for both teams.

Sobby and Luke took the new ball and both hit very good lines and lengths without no real success. Peak and Hayne were looking comfortable against the pace option so Willis, threw the ball to inform Singleton in the 21st over. Singleton quickly opened his account by having Peak caught and bowled for 30. The score at this stage was 53-1 Chessington were on top. Bailey had been introduced at the top end and was bowling with great control and was conceding very little.

Singleton’s second wicket came when Joblin (4) nicked to slip and Willis took the catch. 74-2 became 77-3 when the patient Hayne tried to force a drive and Willis took his second catch at slip, again of the bowling of Singleton for a well made 36. Bailey finally opened his account by getting one to take the outside edge of Gibsons (5) bat and Willis made it a hat trick of catches at first slip.

Wakefield (0) was next to go when deciding to leave a straight ball from Singleton and the umpire decided his fate. Bailey was replaced by Robson after 13 overs and only conceding 25 runs and found some assistance from the air and pitch. D Baker (5) was next to go when being bowled round his legs by another delivery of Singleton, giving him his fifth wicket. A solid 29 from Matt Baker raised the score to 120-7 when he nicked a drive of Robson and was well held by keeper Francis.

Singleton was not finished and had French (11) stumped by Francis and McCollough (8) caught at slip again by Willis before Robson wrapped things up by having Woutersz stumped by Francis for 11.

Leatherhead scored 162 off 54.5 over’s.

Pick of the Bowlers: R Singleton 17-2-61-7

Chessington had 49 over’s in the chase. Andy White and Stu Peplow quickly got to work. Leatherhead expectantly opened with Hayne who was bowled well this season. Peplow decided attack was the best option as he quickly made it to 6 before holing out to mid on. Luke Carter and White then got stuck in and put together a very useful partnership of 53. Carter looking good unfortunately took a short ball and pulled it straight to deep backward square leg leaving for 29 runs of 45 balls.

Chessington at this point required 100 to win with 8 wickets in hand. Stewart and Norton couldn’t hang around with White and it was inform skipper to settle down the innings and provide some support to White who was flowing nicely.

Once Willis had been caught at slip and White departing for an excellent 69, Chessington still required 26 with 4 wickets left. Robson and Francis batted sensibly and patiently as the score required slowly ticked down. Chessington finally got to their target of 163 with Robson 16* and Francis 14*

Pick of the Batsmen: A White 69, L Carter 29

Chessington have now finally beaten their close rivals and now make it 4 wins out of 4 and take 2^nd position outright in division 3 of the Surrey Championship.

 Match Report

Team News: Paul Willis (Captain), Andy White, Chris Norton, Luke Carter, Neil Stewart, Nick Bailey, Andy Robson, Stuart Peplow, Taidhg Randall, Graham Francis and Richard Singleton.

Chessington 1^st XI welcomed Farncome for round 8 of the Surrey Championship. Team news, Andy Robson replaces Alex Yarnley.

Skipper Paul Willis finally managed to call the toss correctly and with the teams new found form with the bat, decided to have first use of what looked like a very flat deck. In recent times some people may question batting first however, the team seems to be thriving on the less pressure first up as White and Peplow strolled to the wicket.

Unfortunately, things didn’t start well as Andy White was bowled second ball of the match by Macumber (os) for naught and Peplow followed soon after, nicking behind to the same bowler for 7. Neil Stewart faired no better as he was well held at first slip for naught. Chris Norton then entered the fray with Carter and together put a quick 20 on before Norton was adjudged lbw although it seems to take a big deviation of the inside edge, nether the less, after electing to bat, Chessington were 40-4 on a flat one.

Carter and Willis then got to grips with the pace and bounce and began carefully rebuilding for the team having lost Bailey to a sharp stumping. Carter, showed his class as he started to increase the tempo and played some class shots, especially straight past the bowler. Carter passed his 50 in good time as Chessington’s poor start was being turned into a good platform for the lower order to build on.

With Willis solid at one end, it was Carter that nicked a Dray delivery to first slip and was gone for a very stylish 63. Graham Francis with a rare opportunity to have a hit with over’s to go stepped up and played some aggressive shots, especially to the spin of Dray and Edwards. Francis departed for 28 of 27 balls. Robson then joined Willis which would prove to be the best partnership of the day. Chessington batted their full 55 over’s, scoring 237, with Robson 33 of 32 balls and Willis, after hitting a solid 50 then exploded and took his individual score to 68 with an enormous 6 on Macumber (os).

Pick of the Batsmen: P Willis 68* Luke Carter 63

Chessington, with the luxury of 237 on the board, set about their task with the inform Singleton with the old ball. He found some turn very early and Chessington took their first wicket when Singleton bowled Jaggard in the 3^rd over for naught. Randall took the new ball from the top end and bowled a very hostile spell at Diprose (33) and Appleton (26), giving the batsman the hurry up and a few bruises to nurture to boot! Randall finally found success when he bowled one that cut in and pushed the batsman Diprose back and the ball found its way to the stumps. Singleton and Randall were replaced by Bailey and Carter. Carter seemed to have some problems and was taken off after 2 over’s to be replaced with Robson. This was the key partnership as Robson has the very talented Barnes caught by Francis for 18 and accounted for Macumber (1) soon after.

Chessington, with their tails up now began to believe that another win was on the horizon. Robson was finding enough shape and the ever reliable Bailey was rewarded with some tight bowling, having Dray plumb lbw for naught not playing a shot, not before bowling Appleton for 26.

Robson quickly both took care of Edwards and Ekkins both scoring ducks before Randal returned to see off the tail and take the last wicket of  Hill after also bowling Baker for a good 45 runs.

Pick of the Bowlers: A Robson 4-17, Randall 3-46

Chessington has now made it 3 wins out of 3, taking 39 points and 30 wickets. Leatherhead travel tothe Sir Francis Barker Ground next week, how the team would like to make it 4 out of 4 against them.

 Match Report

Team News: Paul Willis (Captain), Andy White, Chris Norton, Luke Carter, Neil Stewart, Nick Bailey, Alex Yarnley, Stuart Peplow, Taidhg Randall, Graham Francis and Richard Singleton.

Chessington 1st XI travelled to Warlingham on the back of two very unmentionable weeks for the team. Team news, Paul Willis returning after attending a wedding last weekend.

The teams were very relaxed heading in to the match. Focus was a word used a lot in Willis’s pre-match discussion. Warlingham had won the toss and invited Chessington to bat on a fair surface. White and Peplow have put some good partnerships together this season, and this innings was to add to that.

The Warlingham attack was steady and got some movement however, it was White that took the early initiative and played some pleasing strokes around the ground. Peplow started slightly slower but the partnership built well up to drinks. At been in good form up to this point however, the partnership was finally broken as Rupesh Amin, had a good lbw shout given when Peplow tried to sweep a fairly straight one and went for a solid 41(96 balls).

The pitch was by no means fast but well paced and Nick Bailey was sent in to increase the run rate. Unfortunately, Bailey 10 (18 balls) and Carter 9 (17 balls) fell in fairly quick fashion followed by White for another excellent innings of 59 (118 balls). Norton and Stewart had the task to continue where the others left off and put a partnership of 17 before Norton got a leading edge to cover. Willis and Stewart then hit their straps and with some selective hitting took the score to 190 before Stewart holed out at mid wicket for 31 (46 balls). Willis finished unbeaten on 23 and Yarnley 3. Chessington batted 55 over’s and finished on 210-6. Father and Son partnership of Rupesh and Mahesh Amin finished with sharing the 6 wickets.

Pick of the Batsman: A White 59, S Peplow 41

Chessington, with the luxury of 210 on the board, set about their task with the inform Singleton with the old ball. He found some turn very early and Chessington took their first wicket when Singleton had Naidoo 4 caught at gully by Willis. Carter took the ball from the other end and found little luck against the under pressure batsmen. Chessington will admit that they were not firing on all cylinders however, it was a matter of time before the second wicket was due to fall. The pair of Field 43 and Pizzy 44, took the score to 82 before the elusive second wicket fell, that of Pizzy hitting a mistimed drive to mid-on.

Chessington could now put on the pressure and Randall and Bailey took the new ball and immediately found movement. Sugumar was next to go, being run out by Yarnley for an eventful 12. Then up steps Luke Carter, he takes an amazing 1 handed grab to dismiss Patel off the bowling of Singleton, who was brought back after a tidy spell from Randall, then Carter provides an amazing run out to see off McNamee for 4. Tides quickly turned from 82-2 to 152-8. Slade was stumped well by Francis and Bailey was on a hat trick when he had Walters plumb lbw next ball.

It looked at 9 down as if the game would end in a draw, however, in the 48^th over of 49 to be bowled, Singleton got one to take the edge and Amin was caught at slip and the game was Chessingtons.

 Pick of the Bowlers: Singleton 3-43, Bailey 3-45