Frensham 1st XI secure convincing winning draw against Tilford 1st XI

With Tilford having won the toss, the away side elected to bowl first on a damp pitch that seemingly offered plenty for the seamers. Despite the visitors probing with the ball early on, Frensham made a steady start with the bat, with Phil Moore and James Wood slowly accumulating runs to take Frensham to 80-2 after 27. After Moore was dismissed for 44, Seb Grundy came to the crease and began patiently before accelerating towards the end of the innings, eventually being bowled for 40 looking to take the attack to Tilford. By keeping wickets in hand, Frensham’s middle order were able to add 60 valuable runs from the final 10 overs of their innings, helping the home side to a competitive total of 159-8 at the break. Nigel Martyn prospered towards the end of Frensham’s innings, picking up a string of late wickets to finish with figures of 5-45.

Tilford’s run chase got off to a bad start with Tim Knight picking up a sharp caught and bowled in the first few overs. However, it was the introduction of Ollie Clayton-Jones that really did the damage, with the young seamer picking up three high-quality wickets in his first over to leave Tilford reeling at 15-4. After Randolph (Izzy) James removed Ciaran Rooney for 15, all hopes of a Tilford victory had evaporated. With Tilford 58-8, and Frensham on the hunt for victory, Jason Stones and Nigel Martyn came to the crease with 18 overs left to navigate. Although, Frensham were able to create a number of half chances, with Clayton-Jones also having a wicket ruled out for overstepping the crease, the Tilford pair did a good job of nullifying the threat and guiding Tilford to a losing draw, eventually finishing on 75-8. All of Frensham’s bowlers played their part, with Clayton-Jones being the pick, with figures of 4-27.