This Saturday saw the first eleven travel to Chipstead and Coulsdon Walcountians. With the sun shining for the first time since May, captain Blood won the toss and elected to bat first.

Erasmus (119) and Kelsey (27) got Dorking off to a great start, with both consistently finding the boundary to add 69 for the first wicket before Kelsey fell. Erasmus continued to blaze the ball to all parts despite the wickets of Johnson (7) Ward (0) Rogers (4) and Kenway (9) falling at the other end. This left Dorking 123-5 when Blood (74) joined Erasmus at the crease. Blood quickly got into his stride matching Erasmus stroke for stroke. Erasmus eventually fell for a fantastic 119. Glynn (16) came to the crease and played a good supporting role to Blood who continued to attack. After many blows Blood mistimed one to fall for an excellent 74. Corbett (14) added some quick runs before Dorking declared on 281-9 of 47 overs.

After an extremely good tea, featuring hot dogs and fish finger sandwiches, Dorking took the field in defence of their 281. Kelsey (1-45) and Corbett (1-62) took the new ball with the former removing the dangerous Woods early. Corbett was unlucky not to strike. Erasmus (1-50) and Ward (1-33) followed but neither could dislodge the Chipstead batsmen who batted very well on their way to adding a hundred for the second wicket. Blood then turned to Edwards (1-39) who removed Chipstead’s Randhawa for a well made 51. Following this Chipstead continued to accumulate well with Blood trying various options. This paid dividends with Rogers (1-17) and Kenway (1-22) both striking in their first overs. The former removing Chamberlin for 79 and the latter Foakes for 36. Following this Chipstead still threatened to reach Dorking’s 281 but fell 6 short due to some good death bowling from Ward Erasmus and Corbett.

The result a winning draw for Dorking. A good batting performance but not supported enough by bowling or fielding to win the game against a strong Chipstead side. Nevertheless the first eleven remain in the promotion positions ahead of next weeks derby against Stoke d’Abernon.