Farnham suffered a chastening defeat at Farncombe on Saturday.

Although inserted on a wicket offering pace and bounce, Farnham, fielding their strongest side for some time, were confident of putting together a substantial score and letting rip at Farncombe later. The best laid plans ...

Farnham, in fact, were scuppered by a disciplined bowling display from the home side.

Fortington swung the ball away from the bat at medium pace and dismissed Alan Thorpe, Tom Hicks and Simon Hollingsworth in quick time, reducing the visitors to 14-3.

There was no real recovery and the dismissals of Nick Whitworth and Aubrey Steyn left Farnham reeling at 43-5.

Gary Clapham struck four boundaries before playing the only shot of the game which gave a wicket away.

Peter Dickinson tried to help the tail along, but Hudson and Agge were tight from one end and Forthington cleaned up when he was recalled to the attack, Farnham being all out for a highly disappointing 106.

It was not all over yet. The three-prong pace attack of Dickinson, Steyn and Patrick Murphy had the home batsmen ducking and diving and, at tea, Farncombe were in all sorts of bother at 28-5.

The break came at the wrong time for Farnham. The home side regrouped, while, on the resumption, the bowlers lacked their earlier penetration.

Robinson settled to play a match-winning innings and the stubborn Pole gave him valuable support in an unbroken stand for the seventh wicket.

Farncombe won in the 38th over and are now up to the heady heights of third place.

farnham

A Thorpe c Hewitt b Fortington 10

N Whitworth b Hudson 12

T Hicks b Fortington 0

S Hollingsworth c Collier b Fortington 0

A Steyn c Collier b Pole 13

G Hicks lbw Agge 11

G Clapham c Semper b Hudson 18

P Dickinson c Agge b Fortington 28

P Murphy b Semper 0

D Kirkland lbw Fortington 5

C Stedman not out 0

Extras 9

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Total 106

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Bowling: R Fortington 5-25, J Semper 1-32, C Pole 1-31, L Hudson 2-10, D Agge 1-3.

farncombe

D Lewis lbw Dickinson 1

A Collier c Clapham b Steyn 14

R Mansfield lbw Steyn 10

D Agge b Dickinson 1

J Semper c T Hicks b Steyn 0

A Robinson not out 41

M Turner c Whitworth b Steyn 8

C Pole not out 19

Extras 15

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Total (for 6 wkts) 109

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Bowling: P Dickinson 2-27, A Steyn 4-47.