Dorking travelled to foot of the table Egham which in previous years has not been a happy hunting ground. Having lost the toss we were asked to have a bat on relatively decent looking pitch. Egham failed to make the early inroads to backup their decision as a host of extras and drop catches saw Coxy and Matt Homewood race the score to 60 for the opening stand. Matt was first to go (19) as Egham’s most economical bowler Pandit got a deserved breakthrough. Jonny Gale came to the crease and started nonchalantly with a couple of sweetly timed shots to the boundary through point. Coxy departed with the score on 75 for a well made 33 as the persistent Drage hit the timber. In form Wingy entered the fray to join Jon as they kept the high run rate in tact. Egham brought young spinner Gilmour into attack who both took a liking to , particularly Winky straight back down the ground. Jonny passed 50 which included 8 fours and the stand was worth over 100 shortly after. Gale was back in the tent for 64 as he didn’t quite get hold of it and mid on took a tidy catch. 181-3. The two had set a fantastic platform for the middle order to come in and play freely and Quinny was off the mark in stylish fashion with a textbook back foot punch through backward point. He ably supported Wingy through to 50 as he kept plundering the runs and their partnership added a further 30 until Quinn was undone snicking off behind. 212-4. Tommy was next to join the fray with 5/6 overs to spare. He scored 16 from 20 balls and kept Wingy running as he carried his bat for a fine 75. We declared on 249 from 49.5.

With the pitch seeming to flatten out and a quick outfield we needed to get into the hosts early. Jonny did just that as a mistimed pull from Summy found Tommy at mid on who take a diving catch. The next pair proved more steely with a hint of agriculture mixed in from Harrison. They took the score to 55 until Harrison was undone by a pearler from Quinn as Coxy took a sharp slip catch (Harrison suffered a huge reprieve prior to this as it only could have been an edge). The solid looking ex Capel-ite Drage then played a very uncharacteristic shot as the slog sweep didn’t work against Quinn or choosing Wingy at mid on. 65-3. Quick wickets then followed as Gilmour and Telford fell to C&Bs from the Freddie ‘The Burglar’ Edwards. 84-5. Bax and Hook then started the rear-guard for the home side and became hard to remove – DCC also guilty of putting some catches down. Jack Homewood toiled away to no avail as his 8 overs only conceded 14 runs. It was the return of Quinn that ignited any sniff of a victory as he cleaned up Bax and saw the end of Watmore. 108-7. Gale was pumped the other end and he claimed two quick wickets to put us in the ascendancy. 112-9. With Captain Hook still there and Pandit playing a good hand at 11 we gave all we could to get the final wicket but just came up short. A special mention to the bowling of Quinny 4-18 from 14 and Gale 3-22.

A great effort again from the 2s and we remain top of the Division at the half way point.

Thank you to Tom Chisman for the Match Report.