PUTTENHAM, Blackheath and Frensham, the top three in I’Anson Division One, all recorded wins last Saturday.

Tilford and Grayswood were involved in a tight finish, as were Witley who beat Dogmersfield by four runs to record their first win of the season.

At the Green, Tilford needed two runs to beat Grayswood off the last ball of the day, but had to settle for a losing draw. Put in to bat, Grayswood had begun with a solid opening stand of 54 between Dave Soper and Tom Barnardo, but then faltered as Geoff Coombe took two wickets in an over. Graham Dooling, top scorer with 49, and stand-in skipper Andy Gloak added 57 for the fifth wicket and the visitors made an attacking midway declaration at 183-8. Jason Stones took 2-13 from nine metronomic overs.

Tilford made steady progress through Ryan Chitty, Mark Ramesar and Rick Seabrook, but wickets fell at crucial times. They needed 51 from the last six overs and a lusty 26 from Coombe left his side requiring 12 from the final over.

James Clement hit Henry Hind’s fifth ball for six, but Nigel Martyn was run out off the final delivery as the pair went for glory and Tilford, 182-9, were limited to two points.

Nick Berridge hit an aggressive century for Dogmersfield and very nearly spoiled Witley’s day. In a high-scoring game, Witley’s batsmen found their form and ran up what seemed an unbeatable 272-9 in 45 overs with good partnerships all down the order. Ben Dobson made 68 at number 3, but it was Charlie Hunt, coming in at 8, who really pummeled the bowlers, hitting five sixes in a fast 68.

Chris Munday (4-51) had Dogmersfield in trouble before Imran Choudhary was joined by Berridge in a good stand. Smashing the ball mainly straight, Berridge raced to his ton and was poised to win the game for his side when Ben Dobson had him caught by Hunt for 113. The last pair of Imran Abbas and Illyas were within five runs of victory when that man Hunt claimed the final wicket.

Lowly Wrecclesham, with only ten men, feared a long day in the field when Frensham elected to bat, but the home side came out fighting and Joe Boniface and Mitch Brown removed openers Ben Maxwell and George Breddy cheaply.

Sam Farncombe (47) and Tom Charman (31) batted well in a fluent stand before they, too, fell to Brown and Boniface. Alex Hall and Rob Symes, who took three wickets in eight balls, kept up the pressure and it was a good effort to dismiss the visitors for 188 in 41 overs.

And Wrecclesham got off to a flyer in reply, racing to 27 without loss as skipper Henry Bate smashed 18 off the second over. However, Jordan Frost snapped up two quick wickets and Ray Clarke, introduced early, soon disturbed Bate’s stumps. Maxwell bowled Brown to expose the late order and Clarke (4-18) and Tim Knight quickly cleaned up. Wrecclesham bowled out for 84 in 24 overs.

Grayshott were not unhappy to be inserted on a hard track with a fast outfield and Andy Wheble and Nathan Phillimore established a solid base, taking their side to 76-1 and ready to push on.

However, skipper Phillimore drove his opposite number straight to Paul Nash and Wheble was caught behind for 59, also off Pete Melhuish. James Cavannagh played some handsome shots in his 40 and, at 176-7, Grayshott had visions of a 200-plus total. One Pete Melhuish over later, they were all out for 177 and the Blackheath captain had figures of 5-22 in eight overs.

Left 43 overs, Blackheath relied heavily on Alan Cope as wickets fell at the other end and at 92-4, with Pete Melhuish run out first ball by Chris Brophy, the game was finely balanced.

But Cope showed his class with well-timed strokes and clever placement, reaching 65 before Neil Moseley held a steepling catch. At 115-5, with 15 overs remaining, it could still have gone either way, but Tom Melhuish and Nash came together in an important stand. Melhuish was finally out for 39, leaving Nash to hit the winning runs off the first ball of the final over.

Leaders Puttenham had a more straightforward win away to Chiddingfold. The home side chose to bowl first and Puttenham’s progress to a winning score was only briefly checked when two wickets fell with the score on 60. At 135-5, Puttenham still had work to do, but James Crouch continued his fine form with 52, well supported by uncle John and Samad Ayoubi, and the visitors declared at 248-6 from 41 overs.

Chiddingfold needed a big innings from one of their strong top five, but Puttenham’s versatile attack reduced them to 82-5, with skipper Paul Ward dismissed for 28 by Crouch Jnr.

Stuart Divers rallied the late order, however, and the innings was in the 43rd over when Puttenham sealed the 10 points. Divers was bowled for 45 by Saeed Ahmed who took 3-26 in 10.2 overs. Aks Ilyas claimed 3-31 from 12 accurate overs.