Reports 15th May

Surrey Championship Division 1 – 15/05/10

Cheam – 309 beat East Molesey – 217 by 92 runs.

A smashing partnership of 144 between Chris Salmons and captain, Danny Miller who finished with 114 put Cheam on course for a second successive win of the season.

After a convincing victory over Epsom last week in miserable weather, Cheam travelled to Graburn Way to take on an East Molesey side that had beaten Purley by 56 runs the week before. After winning the toss and electing to bat, Cheam got off to a steady start but soon lost both opening batsmen leaving them on 58-2. Miller entered the crease and together with Salmons, proceeded to pick apart the East Molesey bowling attack by despatching the ball to all parts of the ground. 

Their partnership was finally broken when Salmons was caught down the leg side off of the bowling of Lyndon Brown for 64 with the score at 202 after little more than 30 overs. Miller soon followed and was out for 114 after being caught off of the bowling of Henry Glynn. After this, Cheam’s middle and lower order struggled to make much of an impact and the innings petered out a little bit towards the end. Despite this, they still managed to finish on 309-9 off their 50 overs, thanks largely to East Molesey’s ill-disciplined bowling producing 55 extras including 26 wides.

East Molesey’s reply was led by opening batsman Simon Barrett who made his way to 50 before being trapped LBW by leg spinner Paul Cohen. Apart from Barrett and Paul Lawford, who scored 51, East Molesey’s batsmen rarely threatened to score regularly and never looked like they were going to reach their target. Cheam’s bowlers all worked well but much like East Molesey, struggled with their lines and ended up giving away 27 wides.

Despite this, it was another confident display from the Peaches Close side and left them top of Surrey Championship Division 1 after two games with the only perfect record left in the league. Miller described the victory as, “a strong performance”, but noted, “There are still many areas we need to improve because we will face much tougher tests later on in the season”.

Cheam’s 2^nd XI managed their first win of the season, defeating Cobham Avorians by 165 runs with Marcus Jones scoring 109 and Dan Johnson 53. Cheam 1^st XI make the long journey to Normandy next week in the hope of keeping up their excellent early season form.