HASLEMERE suffered an agonising four-run defeat in their Surrey Championship Division Five debut match away to Old Pauline.

Haslemere are particularly strong in bowling and fielding and so Leigh Thayre was happy to put the Thames Ditton side in and hopefully restrict them to a low total.

Chris May and Ollie Ellis proved difficult to get away and Old Pauline managed only 30 from the first ten overs. May bowled his overs straight through with pace and accuracy, returning figures of 10-4-18-1.

Alex Duncan and Ollie Ratnatunga took the score to 98-3 before Alex Hooker broke through with a big off-spinning delivery first ball. In the same over, he had Ruud Nijman caught behind brilliantly by Pete Dudley.

Overseas leg-spinner Keaghan Cronin picked up his first two wickets for the side, including opener Duncan for 56.

Haslemere turned the screw and despite dropping a couple of catches, dismissed the home team for 157. Alex Hooker had outstanding figures of 8-1-20-4.

Haslemere, already missing opener Lee Clement, also had Chris Hooker batting at 11 due to a shoulder injury, but were still confident of chasing down the total. Stand-in opener Thayre and Chris Spooner, the league’s top scorer last year, began superbly, racing to 49 in nine overs. Then then came a flurry of wickets and Haslemere slipped to 50-3 and then 95-5.

Cronin strode to the crease and he and Alex Hooker added 50 in what promised to be a match-winning partnership. But Cronin, soon after hitting a huge six, drove straight to Saumi Gorani who took a diving catch at mid-off.

With 13 needed and four wickets standing, Haslemere should have strolled it, but Hooker lost his middle stump playing an expansive cover-drive and Old Pauline cleaned up, claiming the last three wickets for just eight runs.

Chris Berkett and Ruud Nijman each took three wickets and and when Saumi Gorani bowled the struggling Chris Hooker, five overs still remained.

Haslemere managed to lose after controlling the match for long periods. “Perhaps it was first game nerves,” said Leigh Thayre, “but mainly it was down to a lack of responsibility from batsmen with huge potential. Very disappointing.”

Haslemere host Chertsey at the Rec this Saturday.