BLACKHEATH’S grip on the I’Anson Cup weakened when they lost to Tilford.

Puttenham, still undefeated, opened up a sizeable lead by beating Headley, while Witley prised themselves off the bottom of Division? One after a second successive 10-point win, beating Grayshott in a low-scoring game.

Tilford beat Blackheath by five wickets with five balls to spare. Put in to bat, the cup holders started well with an opening stand of 55 by Josh Milton and Rob Parrott. Pete Melhuish then hit a run-a-ball 39 while adding 62 with Parrott, but when the latter fell for 44 with the score on 135, Tilford came back strongly.

Geoff Coombe took 4-65 in 14 overs, while off-spinner Guy Wilson had his best I’Anson return of 5-31 in 8.1 overs, and the home side were all out for 192 in the 46th over.

Huw Town-Jones and Mark Ramesar set the pace for Tilford with a second-wicket stand of 52, but Blackheath struck back with some quick wickets, including a fine piece of work by skipper Melhuish to run out Hamish Macdonald, and at 101-5 after 26 overs, the match was finely poised.

At this point, Andy Hall Hall and Wilson came together and raised the tempo with a match-winning, unbroken partnership of 95. Hall Hall played some clever, improvised shots and his unbeaten 63 included 10 fours, while Wilson added a valuable 29 not out to his earlier bowling success. A generous helping of 41 extras made Tilford’s task that bit easier as they reached 196-5 in the 44th over.

Andy Clarke made the brave decision to bat first at Puttenham and, somewhat predictably, Headley were bowled out for less than 100. They resisted grimly for 44 overs as James Crouch (3-20), Ahsan Ahmed (4-13) and Aks Ilyas (2-18) reaped the rewards of extreme accuracy by all six bowlers. Gavin Arend (25) and skipper Clarke (18 not out) battled particularly hard, but Headley could only muster 94 runs.

It took Sajad Hussain and James Andrews, the Puttenham openers, just 16 overs to knock off the runs. Hussain was rampant, hitting 13 fours and a six to finish 69 not out in a very one-sided contest.

Witley, inserted by Grayshott, were rocking at 41-4 after young paceman Alex Marden (4-18) had ripped through the top order. Jimmy Hill (45) and Elliot Forbes (23) rescued their side with a vital partnership of 68. Hill, having struck 45 off 47 balls, was caught off Danny Brown with the score on 109 and Brown proceeded to bowl his side into what looked a match-winning position by taking 5-17 in 5.4 overs.

Witley subsided to 126 all out and the visitors seemed well in control as they moved to 25 without loss. But Ben Dobson then took a wicket in each of four consecutive overs and Grayshott were reduced to 45-5. Nathan Phillimore spearheaded a recovery, but when he was caught for 38 off Kurt Lyall, Grayshott were 77-7 and looking down the barrel.

Brown and Cam Oosthuizen added 20 to put the game in the balance once more, but a double strike by skipper Lyall clinched a 22-run victory and gave Witley real hope of making further progress up the table. Dobson finished with 5-22 (9 overs) and Lyall 3-24 (9.3 overs).

Fellow strugglers Wrecclesham gave a fine batting display to win at Grayswood, yet find themselves propping up the division after Witley’s maximum points. A win for the visitors seemed far from likely after Dave Soper (64) and Tom Barnardo (55), taking advantage of Wrecclesham starting the game with only seven fielders, had put on 111 for Grayswood’s first wicket. Cedric Cooray then came on to bowl an inspired spell for Wrecclesham, taking 6-51 in 12 overs, and Grayswood, 130-1 at one stage, declared at 190-9 in 41 overs.

Jamie Litherland and Henry Bate went off like a train for Wrecclesham and Rob Symes also supported Litherland who reached a half-century on his I’Anson debut before falling to slow left-armer Ben Rinck.

Mitch Brown (38) and Harry Venables added 57, taking Wrecclesham to 179-6, and Neal Harris and Colin Granger completed the win with more than two overs to spare.

Chiddingfold’s total of 132 was never likely to seriously test Frensham at Hollowdene. Jordan Frost bowled both openers with only 12 on the board, but Chiddingfold were going well at 90-2 as Kavi Patel and Matt Barnett staged a fine partnership. Then Tim Knight had Barnett caught for 62 and the innings went into sharp decline. Frost returned excellent figures of 6-27 in 12 overs and Ben Maxwell picked up 3-23 to leave Chiddingfold all out after 41 overs.

An opening partnership of 62 between Roger Johnston and Alex Warren put Frensham on their way. At 109-3, Warren (53 not out) was joined by Frost who, having a good day, hit a four and two sixes to end the game in the 31st over.