Nominally designated as a ‘home’ game for Leatherhead, the leafy village of Holmbury St Martin lies a mere 10 miles from Leatherhead! The sign for the ground was neatly camouflaged on the hairpin bend that climbed at a 45° incline. The steep ascent ought to have been accompanied by the Jurassic Park theme, as Hill’s bemused motorists must have been left wondering where on earth the cricket field would arise from amongst the dense vegetation. Once parked up at the summit, a charmingly sloped ground with a picturesque wooden clubhouse emerged out of the wilderness, in what must arguably be one of Surrey’s strangest grounds. Drizzle and a green pitch meant Chipperton elected to field at the toss, but a further deluge not only delayed play (reducing the game to 35 overs aside) but yielded a comical change of strip to one that looked far harder and less verdant.
The battle of the Jones clan commenced as Snr and Jnr shared the new ball. Attempts to keep moisture off the ball proved futile as the ball was routinely dropped despite frequent cries of “keep the ball up.” The young pretender drew first blood courtesy of a fine Ransom catch in the cordon. At the other end, the remaining opener looked to take the attack to the Hill bowlers and made the most of the sloping outfield. Jones Jnr ended his resistance and claimed a deserved second victim as he found another edge and Stupples did the rest. Chipperton replaced the cowed father and was left to rue some uncharacteristically lapse fielding from Hill, whose outfielders seemingly were suffering from a combination of altitude sickness and butter fingers. Gorman broke the run of drops and took a diving catch to his right at square leg to leave them 77-3 on the verge of drinks.
Leatherhead had breezed along at a reasonable run rate and Hill hoped to staunch the flow of runs and make further breakthroughs in the remaining 17 overs. This plan immediately sprung into life when Ransom bowled the next man in for a 14-ball duck. The spinners worked in tandem and successfully dried up the run rate; Chipperton claimed an LBW to leave 79-5. Subramaniam entered the attack with the clear mandate of mopping up the tail and didn’t waste much time in doing so. His first wicket came as the batsmen walked across and looked to deposit him back down into Holmbury Saint Mary, only to be given out LBW by the umpire when he failed to make contact. The 7th wicket was a comical affair with some classic hit and run cricket from the stock character of the Surrey Downs League: black trainers. Having made it halfway way the slick surface, his attempted retreat ended in him being deposited on his rump and Matthews had plenty of time to take aim and feed Stupples’ gloves for the easiest of run outs. Hunt managed to deceive the next victim with her flight and Stupples gladly obliged to complete the stumping. Leatherhead had bypassed the 100 mark, but a spate of missed chances meant that Hill had given them a chance of posting a score. Subramanium saw chances go begging and so took matters into his own hands – comprehensively bowling the final two men at the crease to leave the hosts on 127 all out.
After a nourishing tea in the bucolic surroundings, Srivastava and Chipperton looked to emulate last week’s profitable partnership at the top of the order. The pair exerted early pressure on the young attack and found the boundary at regular intervals in the early stages, with the former whipping the ball off his pads and the latter swatting away anything short to the legside boundary. Both survived minor scares and Chipperton departed after a sharp caught and bowled opportunity was taken, leaving the visitors 45-1 after 8 overs.
Stupples was the next cab on the rank and he too looked to sweep and make use of the lightning outfield. Srivastava fell on 22 early on in their partnership and Hopkins joined Stupples in the middle. He went on to play the supporting role and Stupples assumed the role as aggressor! The glovesman brought up a brisk half-century at roughly a run a ball and was left unbeaten on 58 as Hill chased down the required total with 15 overs to spare. Another game, another victory … but the biggest result of the day was the surprise win for Salfords against Sutton. Hill will need to be on high alert to prevent a similar shock result next time out.
Player of the match – Sponsored by Nicholls Residential = David Stupples
Park Hill Cricket Club 