Led by new skipper Matt Homewood the season was full of ‘ifs, buts and maybes’, culminating in a mid-table finish in a competitive division. The first third of the season saw Dorking lead the table, but from there on batting became fragile, which led to an unfamiliar nail biting finish.
The first five games saw four wins with two absolute thrillers against Chessington and Egham. Contributions in this period saw Charlie Edwards take 5fer against Purley, Tom Chisman score the first of two 50s against Ashford, leading run scorer Andy Homewood’s first of four 50s and leading wicket taker Steve Quinn’s match winning five wicket haul.
June saw a narrow defeat at Camberley in which Ian Gregg captured his season best of 5 for 39, followed by a commanding win over promoted Streatham as the invaluable Francis Chadwick scored 50 and took 6 wickets and then two frustrating rain affected draws – Dorking were one wicket away from claiming maximum points at home to Chessington.
Six defeats in a row turned the form book completely on its head and ruled the team out of promotion hopes. The main highlight in this period was Quinn’s season best figures of 7 for 28.
The last two games saw the side score over 300 twice as Ben Rogers got a super hundred against Cheam with a season best of 88 for Homewood against Camberley and Nigel Pestifeld’s 61, who showed glimpses of his undoubted class during the season.
Chris Ward provided some extraordinary cameos with the bat and great energy when involved; Charlie Kenway showed what a fine future he has ahead at the club along with Freddie Edwards who had the knack of picking up wickets at crucial times along with stalwart Dave Young who produced some fine spells.
Homewood led the way with 472 runs @ 30 and Quinn and Ian Gregg were a constant threat claiming 28 @ 11 and 27 @ 16 respectively.