Surrey Championship

Division Two

Beddington 214-9

Leatherhead & Cobham

LEATHERHEAD & Cobham failed to make it three wins in a row as they played out a disappointing draw against top of the table Beddington.

The Tanners won the toss and chose to bowl first.

Matt Weller and Dillon Wouretz bowled with plenty of control and aggression but a mixture of dropped catches and luck for the batsman meant Beddington reached 57-0.

A change of bowling was needed and the ball was thrown to Michael Wakefield who again provided the vital breakthrough by removing Lewis for 36. He then removed the dangerous Schumacher (25) to leave Beddington on 91-2.

LCCC's main bowling weapon in recent weeks has been Matt Roberts, but after bowling four balls he pulled up with an intercostal muscle injury. Fortunately LCCC had Freddie Van Den Bergh in their locker and the young spinner almost immediately accounted for White (34) caught by Cush to take his first wicket for the club.

Van den Bergh bowled with control belying his young age and duly completed his five wicket haul, a fine effort. The Beddington innings finished on 214-9.

The Tanners needed a good start to be in with a chance of chasing the total down. As it turned out they could not have got off to a worse start as openers Cush and Baker were removed in the first two overs and French was run out to leave them on 15-3.

This brought captain George McCullough and Joe Peak to the crease and the pair attempted to stabalise the innings.

It wasn't pretty, but an excellent spell of bowling by Baker and Lewis kept runs at a premium. Beddington then took the new ball and Lewis immediately had Peak caught behind.

Roberts, Van Den Bergh and Matt Baker all attempted to bat LCCC into a better position but regular wickets meant that they were never in the hunt to chase the total down.

Much to Beddington's disappointment, LCCC weren't in the mood to hand them the 13 points and batted out the remaining overs to claim a draw with McCullough finishing on 61 not out.

LCCC host Horsley & Send on Saturday knowing that a far better batting display is needed to get back to winning ways and keep their faint promotion hopes alive.