HSMCC v Old Suttonians

Holmbury St Mary 279 for 9, Old Suttonians 222 for 7.

Fuzzy shadows outlined Holmbury’s victory over Old Suttonians at the Walch Memorial Ground, Cheam. As a team the Holmbury Saturday side are coming to delight in displays of discipline, forty overs of slow strangulation to bring the opposition to heel. Saturday’s performance was one such.

#UsualPleaseLandlord at the toss meant that Old Suttonians were set an imposing target of 281 to win, and at 51/1 after 10 overs, never really looked in contention.

Holmbury recovered from an ominous start, losing Jason Russell caught at the wicket from the second ball of the day, building slowly and then accelerating to a now routine fast finish.

Raoul Colville got the innings going, driving and pulling with increasing confidence until he was dismissed for 77. Mat Evans, the Holmbury Stokes, continued his return to form with a rattling 67 which included one of his trademark ‘still rising as it crosses the boundary’ maximums. It is good to see the big man back to his best, although his recent dry spell may be explained by the fact that he rarely batted in pre-season with more than 3 hours’ sleep the previous night and anything less than a crippling hangover…

Monu Sharma (35) kept the scoreboard spinning and late cameos from Paul Seligman, Charles Colville and Geoff Finch saw Holmbury post 279/9, which would have required the Old Suttonians to score at 7 runs per over from the get go.

Despite some early bowling waywardness, the home side never looked like keeping up with the rate. Seligman dismissed one opener with his third tactical legside long hop, the catch taken by a lightning Johnny Russell who had a fine day behind the stumps.

The Holmbury bowling soon tightened up, Bradley ‘Hollywood’ Cooper (no Hangover there) stifling the life out of the Old Suttonian middle order and finishing with figures of 8 overs, 3 maidens, 2 wickets for just 21 runs. Charles Colville (6-0-3-44) continued the death by a thousand cuts, leaving 13 per over required from the last ten.

With Mat Evans (8-0-1-38) bending his back this was always an impossible ask, and Old Suttonians fizzled to 222/7, the only notable batting performance a captain’s knock of 67* from number 4 Imran Ullah.

And so Holmbury’s Saturday side prolong an unbeaten run that is now reaching monstrous proportions and sit, noses beginning to bleed, atop the table. This performance was characterised by sharp, determined fielding, high effort levels and catches held. Next up, Brookham Green back on the mound at the dawn of June.