By Paul Toplis
Surrey won the BCEW Southern Regional T20 Cup with a great display of fielding at Ottershaw Cricket Club, that restricted the Dorset Dolphins to 106 for 8 from their 20 overs. Steve won the toss for the Dolphins and chose to bat on a warm, bright sunny day. Although the Dolphins reached 51 without loss this had taken almost nine overs and in trying to accelerate they lost their first wicket at the end of that over attempting a sharp single. Surrey piled on the pressure with three more run outs while just 43 more runs were added. Lois then took a caught and bowled before Dave Allen started an over with a wicket bowled and a sharp catch by Richard Claridge so that four wickets fell on 94. Michael Parsons saw off the hat trick ball but with Lois, Dave Allen and Ryan West bowling at the death the Dolphins could only manage 12 more before the end of the innings. Joshua Brennand on his eighteenth birthday bowled a tidy over for just 9 runs.
The chase began badly for Surrey as they lost two wickets for 20 runs in the first three overs. They were scoring at a good rate however; Lois scoring at almost a run a ball before being caught on the full by Michael at point. That was 57 for 3 with an over and a half to go before the drinks break. Dave Allen came in and scored even more quickly so that there were 75 on the board at the interval. He had to retire on 25 from 19 balls shortly afterwards but David Lewis and Scott Harvey, who carried his bat with 29 from 39 balls, saw them home with almost 7 overs to spare. Robert had bowled very well completing his allocated overs and taking 1 for 26 while conceding just two extras.
Many thanks to Ottershaw Cricket Club for providing the venue and support for the day.
Only the Leicester Development weekend next week and one further northern regional match remain in the 2021 season; we all hope that 2022 will see a full season of cricket played with the skill, spirit and enthusiasm on display today.