SPENCER'S second successive defeat has set the league up for a potentially thrilling second half of the season.

Farnham's gutsy and thoroughly professional performance demonstrated that they could play a key role in the final shake-up. Indeed, it was hard to tell which of these sides started the game top of the table, such was the authority of Farnham's display, easing the pain of narrowly missing a win in the away fixture earlier this summer.

It was Farnham's ability to deal better with a sub-standard Park pitch that won them the encounter. However, there were individual performances of some note – not least from Alan Thorpe, the senior member of the side, whose outright refusal to give his wicket away stood Farnham in such good stead.

He single-handedly held the top order together as wickets tumbled to poor shots in the intimidating conditions. Gary Clapham showed a glimpse of his class by smashing Wasim Riaz – perhaps the ideal bowler on a pitch of this kind – for consecutive cover-drives, before offering up a soft catch.

But the man of the match was undoubtedly Richard Norman. He had struggled for form since his return to Farnham after a spell at Marlow, but on Saturday he was simply awesome. His 70 came from only 82 balls as he allied skill and judgement with perfect shot selection throughout.

It was a brave innings too, and he will have been nursing several bruises on Sunday morning. Having reached his half-century, he unleashed a barrage, imperiously dispatching the fearsome David Thompson to the mid-wicket boundary and then charging the paceman, driving him high into the Park for a maximum.

It was a fitting way for Norman to sign off for the season. He now departs for an extended trip round the world.

Despite all this, the shot of the day belonged to Robert Smith, whose 32 not out was crucial. In the final over, with Farnham still short of the 200 mark and a vital psychological benchmark, Smith danced down the wicket to Thompson, who, affronted, bowled a vicious short ball. Smith appeared to be ducking, but his swinging bat made a connection as sweet as any serve delivered this year at Wimbledon. And as if to prove this was no fluke, Smith sent the penultimate ball into the car park for a second six. Spencer were down, and the home side were flying.

The momentum continued as Spencer tackled the tricky pitch. Dalton edged his first hostile delivery from Peter Dickinson ball to Guy Hicks at slip. Riaz followed in similar fashion, and with Imraan Mohammed popping one up to Alan Thorpe at short-leg Farnham were on their way to 13 points.

The Farnham bowlers continued to look more dangerous than Spencer's had because more balls were in the right area to exploit the wicket. It offered help to the spinners too and Danny Kirkland took full advantage, picking up four wickets with his left-armers.

There was little resistance from the visitors, five of whom scored nought. Only Saleem Mohammed's staunch defence, and Thompson's powerful cameo kept Farnham's hungry bowlers at bay.

The match ended well before 7 pm as Farnham polished off the tail – something they had failed to do at Spencer.

The visitors can blame the pitch – 18 of the 19 wickets fell to catches – but this would be unfair on Farnham and the fighting spirit they showed in recording a win that keeps them in the title hunt.

But Farnham have to put together a winning a sequence and they have successive away games coming up against Avorians and Honor Oak.

Farnham

A Thorpe c A Saleem b Dalton 44

N Whitworth c I Mohammed b Phillips 2

G Hicks c Baker b Riaz 1

G Clapham c A Saleem b Riaz 20

T Hicks c I Mohammed b Thompson 1 P Dickinson c I Mohammed b Riaz 1

R Norman c S Mohammed

b Thompson 70

J Crutcher c Thompson b Phillips 4

R Smith not out 32

P Murphy c A Saleem b Thompson 8 D Kirkland not out 1

Extras 27

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Total (for 9 wkts dec) 211

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Bowling: D Thompson 3-88, P Phillips 2-43, W Riaz 3-31, A Dalton 1-25.

Spencer

W Riaz c G Hicks b Dickinson 5

A Dalton c G Hicks b Dickinson 0

I Mohammed c Smith b Murphy 7

S Mohammed not out 30

K Saleem c Norman b Kirkland 10

J Shouders c Murphy b Kirkland 0

D Thompson c Dickinson b Murphy 37

A Saleem c G Hicks b T Hicks 3

N Baker Ibw Dickinson 0

P Phillips c Thorpe b Kirkland 0

M Fisher c Thorpe b Kirkland 0

Extras 14

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Total 106

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Bowling: P Dickinson 3-29, P Murphy 2-24, D Kirkland 4-25, T Hicks 1-0.