Ashtead spinners Tom Homes and Tom Deighton spun Reigate into a tizzy Thursday evening as chasing only 91 runs to win, the home side slumped to 11-5 after just six overs and went on to lose this Surrey Championship Round Four Twenty20 game by six runs.
It was this same Ashtead side, who now top Division Two of the Surrey Championship, who last year knocked the Llamas out of contention in this same competition, only in the first round. And to show it was no fluke it was the same persons who did the damage. Last year Michael Sanderson top scored for Ashtead with 42 as the side chased down Reigate's score of 90 with six wickets to spare. This year Sanderson top scored with 24 as Ashtead, batting first after winning the toss, made the same score of 90 runs themselves.
Last year the two Toms had helped extinguish the Priory effort with bowling spells of one wicket for just five runs in Tom Homes's four-over spell and two wickets for 17 in Deighton's four-over spell.
This year Homes, still only 16-years-old, went one better and bowled a stunning spell of four overs, two maidens, four wickets for three runs. His captain Deighton went one better as well with three wickets for 14 runs in his four overs.
As the Yankees catcher of the '50s and '60s, Yogi Bera, supposedly put it: It was déjà vu all over again!
Ashtead had 41 runs on the board after just seven overs in their innings with both openers scoring well. Once Reigate captain Neil Saker had broken that partnership Ashtead wickets fell steadily before the innings closed on 90 all out after 20 overs. Saker ended with figures of 2-15 off four overs.
Reigate fielded superbly, Chris Murtagh taking three good catches in the deep and Will Irving and Henry Tye taking two excellent catches each as well. After 10 overs, with the Ashtead score at 51-1, Saker brought on Hodson from the Blue Anchor End and Steven Hirst from the Pavilion End and the pair proceeded to strangle Ashtead with three wickets for 15 runs between them in six overs bowled. Hodson ended with 2-9 off his four overs and Hirst 2-16 from his four overs.
Chris Wigley, bowling his left-arm spin, mopped up the Ashtead innings with four wickets for 13 runs at the end of the innings. With only 90 runs to the Ashtead final score, Reigate looked to be in the driver's seat.
But then the repeat of history. Opening the innings with that deadly Homes-Deighton spin combination, Ashtead tore Reigate apart. From 11-5, Tom Lister, batting in place of Auckland batsman Craig Cachopa who was away on duty for Sussex 2nd XI, and captain Neil Saker put their heads down for a 58-run partnership. But the partnership took 74 balls to accomplish and by the time Lister was out caught and bowled by Deighton for 19 runs off 36 balls, Reigate had only 11 balls left to score the 22 runs needed for victory – a task that proved beyond them.
Saker battled gamely to top score with 45 not out off 46 balls, including a towering 6 in the last over. But the game had long been under Ashtead's control and at 84-8 the Priory failed by six runs.
