THE first ‘time’ Surrey Championship game of the season found Farnham travelling to Dulwich where they were surprised to find a very wet and very soft wicket and a damp, lush outfield.

Not surprisingly, the toss proved vital and Farnham, put in to bat, failed to muster enough runs, although they made the South Londoners work mighty hard for the win.

From the outset, the ball regularly kept low or went through the top, while the bowlers also obtained sideways movement off the yielding surface. And when the batsmen did manage to pierce the infield, the long grass delivered little value for shots.

James Berry fell to a ball from Kamran Munawar which ‘popped’ as he attempted a cover-drive. Ciaran Rooney quickly followed and then most of Farnham’s middle order as they fell to balls which misbehaved in a variety of ways.

Munawar did the early damage, returning superb figures of 8-4-11-4, and Farnham were in dire trouble at 23-5. Then Dulwich made a double bowling change and with the wicket starting to dry out, Sam Powell and Ben Ungaretti tried to salvage something from the wreckage. They did this to great effect against both seam and spin and the pair added 55 before Ungaretti was bowled by another delivery which kept low.

On the same score, Powell was run out, having scored an entrepreneurial 33 on his debut innings for the first team, and with him went Farnham’s hopes of a defendable total.

The experienced Mike O’Mahony rallied the tail and Farnham managed 112 all out in the 47th over, Naeem Iqbal taking the last three wickets to finish with 4-23 in 9.4 overs.

Although the wicket had eased when Dulwich replied, the variable bounce and pace remained. Ed Stolle and Ed Towner got to 30 before Ungaretti snapped up two wickets on that score. Tom Grimes then turned to Rooney and Chris Terry and both spinners immediately caused problems.

Left-armer Terry was again outstanding, barely bowling a bad ball in his 11 overs. The pair reduced Dulwich from 62-3 to 71-6, largely thanks to Terry’s great control and threatening line and length, bringing him figures of 11-7-10-3.

Farnham scented victory at that stage, but Dulwich held their nerve and Jack Anderson and Leon Sealy took their time, batting with great patience in a stand of 45. The visitors just couldn’t find that seventh wicket and Dulwich got home in the 40th over.