Lingfield CC 320-0 beat Newdigate CC 284-9

Sobering experience for Newdigate

Lingfield and Newdigate, two teams adjacent in the League table and vying to move higher up again at this late stage of the season met on a balmy Friday evening at the Lingfield CC Godstone Road ground. In front of a good crowd the Lingfield skipper won the toss and perhaps surprisingly sent Newdigate into bat. In response, openers Tom Quigley (13 not out) and Jacob Purcell (2 not out) proceeded to give Newdigate the perfect start, putting on 24 valuable and well struck runs without loss against a fiery Lingfield opening bowling attack that augured well for the visitors. Both James Bennett (5 not out) partnering debutant William Triggs then batted sensibly allowing the middle order pairing of skipper Finn Osborne (15 not out) and Joe Teague (9 not out) to shift Newdigate up to 267-2 and it seemed to some a large score awaited. However Lingfield applied the pressure well effecting several run-outs during Oliver Turner (3) and debutant Toby Triggs' tenure at the crease, although when final pairing George Warne and Oakley Wheeler arrived Newdigate were still handily placed on 272-5. Warne opened in customary fashion with two powerful boundaries and after the 18^th over had accelerated Newdigate to 295-5. Back came Lingfield however and with enormous credit then took 4 excellent wickets under intense pressure including a splendid hat trick by Nico Elliott, ensuring the visitors were limited to posting a respectable but attainable total of 284 at tea.  Upon the restart, Lingfield openers Jack Rowland (6) and Ross Hearnden withstood the customary strong opening bowling of Newdigate early on though were gifted some wayward extras that merely served to ease any initial pressure. What emerged thereafter though was an interesting but sobering message delivered to this talented Newdigate U11 Colts team.  Throughout the home side's innings, their batting was characterised altogether by a sensible and straight technique that rarely gave Newdigate's alert fielding a chance. As a result the home team moved beyond the required target by the 15^th over and thenceforth never really looked back, with Ben Styles (23 not out) and Nico Elliott (23 not out ) in particular outstanding and steering their team to an assured victory. Pick of the Newdigate bowlers was the accurate but unlucky James Bennett 3-1-10-0 and his counterpart Oliver Turner (3-1-3-0) who both deserved more. Mention also of the excellent debutant Triggs brothers must be made for their endeavour and courage throughout for Newdigate in what was a tense game, whilst the energetic fielding of Jacob Purcell once again shone through. This result halted Newdigate's recent fine winning streak and whilst Newdigate bowled reasonably accurately and several close decisions did not go their way, their opponents Lingfield ultimately deserved to win this gripping encounter and as often the case, the scorecard normally tells the story.