The first league of the 2019 season was finally upon us as Dorking welcomed Farnham to Pixham Lane. Captain Toby Blood won the toss and elected to field. Farnham began well though with openers Toby Davies and Guy Hicks reaching 38 for no wicket before the rain forced a 90 minute delay to proceedings. Following the resumption of play, Farnham continued to bat with a great deal of authority however the introduction of the returning Scott Kelsey stemmed the flow of runs. Kelsey bowled with a great deal of control and returned figures of 0-17 from 9 overs. This turned to tide in the game and things went further Dorking's way when Charlie Edwards superbly ran out Hicks on 41. Davies (63) and Thorpe (42) batted sensibly but Dorking bowled brilliantly at the death to restrict the visitors to 183-3 from the 41 over mark that had been set following the rain.

With a duckworth-lewis adjusted total of 191 to win, Dorking began with a flurry of boundaries from Kelsey and Erasmus. Kelsey (4) and Rogers (13) fell in quick succession however and the home side had work to do in pursuit of their first victory of the campaign. Erasmus (35) carried on where he finished the 2018 season with some strong shots down the ground but was adjudged LBW with the game firmly in the balance at 68-3. Following a century in the final friendly of pre-season captain Toby Blood was in at 5 and him and Douthwaite took the attack to the visitors. Douthwaite played beautifully and struck 9 4's and 4 6's in a match winning innings of 87. Blood (43*) finished the chase with two boundaries through the leg side as Dorking won by 6 wickets with 7 overs to spare.

A good win to start the season.