Chave Keeps His Cool to Catch the Winner

Following on from their win the following week against Bank of England CC, Dorking were at Pixham again for an encounter against recently relegated Old Ruts. The team had one change with Chris Ward becoming a victim of body power with Cameron Pitt coming in to make his First XI league debut. Scott Kelsey as usual one the toss and chose to bat. Douthwaite and Chave opened up and struggled to time the ball early on. Credit to the away side who bowled extremely well and made life difficult for Dorking. As the runs started to flow, Chave was dismissed caught at mid on and Pitt strode to the crease. Douthwaite and Pitt dug in nicely for the side and took the score past 50 when Pitt and Swift to the impressive and wiley Brennan. Kelsey joined Danny at the crease and the runs started to flow with these two elegant batsman looking extremely dangerous with anything slightly over pitched. It was a tale of mini collapses however for Dorking, with Kelsey (22), Cameron, Miller all falling in quick succession. Credit to Danny D, who did exactly what the side needed and ground his way through difficult times to ensure Dorking had something to bowl out. The last 3 wickets were able to grind out a crucial 40 runs as Dorking set Old Ruts 153 to win. It was by no means a score we would have been looking for but we knew early wickets was crucial to our chances. It had been done before.

Early wickets are exactly what we got!!! Miller and Danny both picked up early poles with Blood taking a very good leg side catch. Old Ruts battled hard and occupied the crease but Dorking knew they needed to stay patient and the rewards would come. Miller took another wicket before the end of his first spell and the first change bowlers Glynn and Pitt did not let up. Pitt took the wicket of the set batsman, courtesy of a wonderful catch by that man Douthwaite and soon was involved in running out Brennan for 19. Special praise to Glynn who bowled brilliantly without much reward. At 60/5 the game was in the balance and with the dangerous Collett still to come Dorking knew there was a long way to go. Enter the skipper! With an over to go before drinks, the Kelsey boy armed with his new lungs went up for a very close LBW shout. Pixham went silent in anticipation….the finger was raised and Kelsey galloped his way down the wicket in celebration! Who knew he could move that well? Back onto the field and Old Ruts were battling away and Dorking could sense the game slipping away ever so slightly. The ball was thrown back to Miller who wasted no time in changing the game as he so often does. A superb slower ball, followed by another brilliant slip catch from the evergreen Jason and a genuine slip to the keeper…suddenly Old Ruts were 9 down needing 50. Collett was still at the crease however and was chipping away at the total very maturely. With Miller bowled out, Dorking needed a hero. In fact we had two heroes. Cameron Pitt with a well thought out long hop claimed the crucial final wicket with Collett pulling a half tracker straight down the throat of Rob Chave. With the pressure mounting, special praise to Rob who held his nerve to hold the match winning catch. A tough game of cricket played hard on the field but lots of respect of the field. Dorking travel to Malden Wanderers next week, top of the league and hoping to continue this winning momentum.

Updated 13:16 - 15 Oct 2019 by Chris Pike