TWO weeks to go in the I’Anson Competitions and the pressure is telling on leaders Blackheath who suffered only their third defeat of the season last Saturday.

Blackheath lost at home to Grayshott, leaving the door ajar for Grayswood who failed to push it wide open. They were held to a draw by Puttenham.

But Blackheath remain firm favourites and a win at Elstead this weekend should clinch their first I’Anson championship. Another defeat would keep Grayswood in the hunt if they win at Tilford in their final game of the season. Blackheath would then have to come away with something from Puttenham on September 19.

Wrecclesham secured ten precious points in the bottom-of-the-table clash at Pibright, with Mitch Brown recording eye-catching figures of 8 for 5 in 9.4 overs. Pirbright replace Wrecclesham at the bottom. Elstead lost to Dogmersfield and with only their home match against Blackheath to come, look doomed.

Blackheath made the positive decision to bat first, but were never able to force the pace against Grayshott’s battery of accurate seamers. Rob Gregory and Mark Richards removed dangerous openers Josh Milton and Rob Parrott and it was left to Torsten Wrigley (31) and Peter Melhuish (27) to push the visitors toward a decent total. But both fell to Matt Haywood (4-53), making a successful return to first-team duty. Danny Brown (1-29) bowled 14 extremely tight overs and after a gritty effort by the late order, Blackheath declared at 163-9 from 47 overs.

In bowler-friendly conditions, and with Grayshott’s long boundaries, it looked a defendable total, but the home side made light work of the run-chase, despite losing Andy Wheble cheaply. This was thanks to a superb partnership of 124 between the experienced Neil Moseley (69) and captain Nathan Phillimore (47). The pair picked off 18 boundaries between them and although they departed in rapid succession, the job was done and Grayshott eased to a six-wicket victory with almost nine overs to spare.

Grayswood, inserted by by Puttenham, batted the visitors out of the game with 235-8 in the full 48 overs. James Crouch and Aks Ilyas whipped out the openers for only 15 runs, but there followed a century stand between Callum Kent and the hard-hitting Andy Major who struck 63 off 46 balls, including five fours and four sixes.

Ilyas and Sohail Awan then made inroads and, at 150-7, Grayswood were flirting with defeat. However, the Gloak brothers snatched back the initiative with a forceful stand of 85, between them launching six sixes. Alastair made 60 not out off 52 balls.

Puttenham, coming off the back of seven consecutive wins, needed a strong start, but Iain Jackson and Andy Gloak winkled out the openers and a brief assault by Ahsan Awan (26) was ended by Jon Ashworth. When Alex Tucker removed Sohail Awan for 37, Puttenham concentrated on survival and John Crouch, first with son James and then with Ilyas, made sure of the two points.

Tilford’s undignified scramble to stay clear of the drop-zone continued with a seven-wicket defeat at Frensham. Put in to bat, Tilford found it hard to score runs on a lifeless track and Tom Smith removed both openers with only 25 on the board. The combination of the wily Ray Clarke and left-armer Tim Knight, with his tight line, slowed things down further and the pair shared five wickets off 28 overs.

Only Guy Wilson and Nigel Martyn passed 20 and the visitors were all out for an under-par 112 in the 46th over. Smith returned to take two more wickets, finishing with 4 for 40, while Knight 3 had 25 and Clarke 2 for 25.

Early successes for Jake Austin and Jason Stones had Frensham at 25-3, but thereafter it was plain sailing for the hosts. Skipper Sam Farncombe (42 not out) and Tom Charman (40 not out) batted sensibly, dealing with each ball on its merit, and their excellent unbroken partnership of 89 saw their side home in the 29th over. Tilford missed the few chances that came their way in the field on a miserable day for the defending champions.

Headley beat Alfold by three wickets in a low-scoring, but competitive mid-table game. Both sides had major batting collapses, but a partnership of 66 between Ashley Cook and Callum Hawtin enabled Headley to chase down their target with three wickets in hand.

Gavin Arend won the toss for the first time in eight games and promptly elected to bowl first, but Andy McPherson and Justin Haygarth battled hard in testing conditions and saw off the new ball. At 57 without loss, Alfold were nicely placed to accelerate, but Joe Randall, changing ends for his second spell, bowled McPherson for 34 and Headley seized their chance.

Haygarth went soon afterwards to a smart catch by keeper Cook off Stuart Smith who snapped up two more wickets. Cook made a superb stumping off Randall and, at 87-6, Alfold had lost four wickets for eight runs. Neil Piper hit a couple of fours, but Randall claimed his fourth wicket and Craig Johnson (3-2) wrapped up the tail in five balls. Alfold had lost all ten wickets for the addition of just 47 runs.

Randall took a couple of fours off Piper to give Headley a bright start, but it was a false dawn. Piper and David Burke bowled excellent spells, Steve Bannister whipped off the bails to remove Randall, and Headley were in trouble at 9-3. The runs dried up almost completely and at 25-5 off 17 overs, Alfold were in the driving seat.

Cook and Hawtin decided that occupation of the crease was the answer and the change-bowlers failed to pose the same problems, although Cook had a stroke of good fortune when he was caught off a no-ball. Hawtin eventually fell to Haygarth for 38 (top score of the day) and, to keep things interesting, Johnson was run out with 11 still needed. However, with the field up, Ken White hit a couple of lusty blows to see Headley over the line. Cook finished undefeated on 32.

Division Two beckons Elstead after their heavy defeat at Dogmersfield. Openers Imran Choudhary (41) and Sunny (32) scored briskly for the home side and although Chris Terry, Ali (4-32) and Peter Cheeseman got amongst the wickets, fast-scoring contributions from Khashif Hussain (47) and Saeed Ahmed (28) enabled Dogmersfield to total 182 all out in the 41st over.

It proved easily enough. Pankaj Khuley and Ashan Ahmed made a reasonable start for Elstead, but the rest fell like ninepins, with Imran Abbas taking 4 for 2 in four overs. Elstead were shot out for 60 in the 25th over.

Mitch Brown took the plaudits with his remarkable bowling spell, but it was a gritty batting performance that set up a crucial victory for Wrecclesham against Pirbright.

Deciding to bat at the Gardens, Wrecclesham were made to work hard for their runs, especially by Ian Milton who took 5 for 33 from his 14 overs. James Wright and Symes got into the 30s and Darren Bridger, moving up to the first team, made a valuable 35 not out. He was well supported by Fred Savin and the late order, and Henry Bate made a midway declaration at 189-5.

James Thompson (28) and Awais Khan saw off the Wrecclesham openers, but this brought Brown into the action as second-change and he proceeded to wreak havoc, taking eight wickets in less than ten overs and finishing the game clinically by clean-bowling ‘9, 10 and jack’. Pirbright collapsed dramatically to 85 all out and Brown returned the amazing figures of 9.4-5-5-8.