An off day for 1st XI

July 1st 2023

A shambolic batting display against West End(Esher) CC subjected Sutton Challengers to their 3rd defeat in the Surrey County League 1st XI Division 2. This loss leaves them fifth in the standings and their hopes of getting promoted now hang by a thread.

After losing the toss and being asked to bat on their home ground, SCCC made a watchful start with an Opening partnership of 35 in 8 overs between Deepak Rajurkar and Poovaiah BM. Gareth Bint delivered the first blow for West End, bowling Poovaiah and Max Henson followed it up from the other end bowling Prashanth. What followed from there was an hour of madness where SCCC lost regular wickets and were down to 62 for 8 with still more than 20 overs left. Nirmal and Srikanth offered some resistance with a gritty partnership of 26, but SCCC were eventually bowled out for 89. All bowlers for West End chipped in with wickets – Sandy(3), G.Bint(2), G.Hunter(2), J.Carter(2) and M.Hanson(1).

Chasing a paltry 90, West End had an early wobble when they lost C.Burton for a duck in the second over. Raghu and Srikanth kept things tight and kept asking the right questions. Chintu and Anand then came into the attack and were very threatening and Chintu scalped open W.Schulze. Patrick O’Neill and Ross Drabble then knuckled down to build a small partnership. There were lots of close calls with the SCCC bowlers going on an all-out attack but the expected wickets never came. Deepak Rajurkar bowled a spell of 6 consecutive maidens but with no scoreboard pressure, the West End batters could afford to just see him off. Nirmal Shah picked up 3 quick wickets to raise some hopes, but Gareth Bint came in and ensured there was no further drama and sealed with the win for West End.

With this win, West End(Esher) CC consolidated their position in the top 3 while SCCC slumped to 5th place and Promotion now seems a long way away