GRAYSWOOD beat Tilford on Saturday to become the only unbeaten side in the I’Anson Division One, following Frensham’s defeat to Dogmersfield.

Jason Stones decided to bat first and Tilford opener Andy Hall Hall continued his impressive start to the season with a fourth successive half-century. The visitors looked on the way to a hefty total as he and Nathan Sprittles put on 113 for the first wicket in 25 overs.

But once Hall Hall was caught and bowled by spinner Jon Ashworth for 71, the innings fell away against Cameron Kent, Alastair Gloak and Australian Rhys Dodson who picked up 3-38 in his nine overs, and Tilford went from 124-2 to 187-9 in their 45 overs.

Grayswood toiled initially against tight bowling and were held to 91-4 after 31 overs. But with wickets in hand, they were able to accelerate the run-rate, skipper Gloak leading the way with an aggressive 69 before being run out by Geoff Coombe. A couple of wickets for Jake Austin made it interesting, but Harry Holmes saw Grayswood home with five balls to spare and they become outright leaders with four wins out of four in the new limited-overs format.

Promoted Pirbright have lost four on the bounce – all against strong opposition – and took some positives from their defeat to champions Puttenham who were quick to bounce back from last week’s loss to Chiddingfold.

Ian Milton elected to bowl and his strong attack, supported by sharp fielding, tied down the Puttenham openers. And when Milton came on to dismiss Sajad Hussain and the dangerous Sohail Awan in quick succession, Pirbright were on top, even though the captain then tweaked a hamstring. Puttenham owed much to Aks Ilyas who batted throughout the innings in restrained style. Number 9 Imran Khan added a quickfire 31 and the visitors reached 154 all out in the 41st over, with skipper Ilyas still there on a composed and crucial 59 not out.

Pirbright, with a couple of debutants in their top order, lost wickets regularly to a formidable bowling attack. Ahsan Ahmed made things particularly difficult for the batsmen, taking 4-13 in eight overs, while James Crouch destroyed the late order with 3-5 in 13 balls. Pirbright were blown away for 61 in 26 overs. Their bowling looks good, but they need to address their batting.

Headley notched up a second successive win, beating Lurgashall by three wickets. George Ellis won an important toss, Lurgashall were inserted, and the visitors, despite a decent start, duly struggled to force the pace. With the batsmen needing to take risks against the change-bowlers, Callum Hawtin, who took a superb return catch, claimed 4-35, well backed up by Ellis who bowled his nine overs for just 17 runs. Alex Wadey showed good stickability and built a platform for Dan Bolton to strike a powerful 44, including three sixes, before falling to the wily Stuart Smith. Some good ‘death’ bowling then held the visitors to 165-9.

At 23-2, Headley had work to do and Smith and Harry Clarke dug in to see off the two Aarons, Evans and Carter. Spinners Bolton and Nathan Kemp also applied pressure and at 54-3, the game was finely balanced. However, a stand of 55 between Ellis and Matt Clarke put Headley in the driving seat. Ellis reached 53 off 44 balls before falling to Aaron Evans and Drew Clark picked up two wickets to give Lurgashall hope at 143-7. But the game was finished off with aplomb by the Hawtin brothers.

Grayshott’s bold decision to bat first at Blackheath was rewarded with a 25-run victory in a high-scoring game. Half-century stands between Andy Wheble and Neil Moseley and then Moseley and Nathan Phillimore set the visitors up for a 200-plus total. Phillimore, well supported by Cameron Clarke, just had time to complete an excellent century and Grayshott closed on 239-7.

Blackheath looked on the way to victory at 118-2, and although Josh Milton then fell to Danny Brown for 60, Harry Giles held firm as Brown and Wheble took further wickets. The match swung in Grayshott’s favour when Giles was stumped by Phillimore off Wheble for 56 and after some lusty blows from Rob Weston, Mark Richards finished the job – Blackheath all out for 214.

Chiddingfold beat struggling near-neighbours Witley. Put in to bat, the visitors lost six wickets cheaply before Charlie Hunt and Ollie Phillips put up some spirited resistance. However Neil Garrett (4-40) and the returning Paul Hundley (3-15 in 8.2 overs) returned to knock over the tail and Phillips was left stranded on 37 not out when the last wicket fell at 109.

Kurt Lyall bowled a good opening spell for Witley, but an unbroken partnership between Paul Ward (42 ) and Matt Barnett (37) secured a nine-wicket win in 22 overs.

Frensham, put in at Dogmersfield, managed only 155-8 in their 45 overs, with Nick Green making 52 before being run out by Samad Ayoubi. Shinwari bowled a lively opening spell and finished with 3-28 in nine overs.

Frensham managed to take four wickets in reply, but Dogmersfield’s hard-hitting approach won the game in 32 overs. Delour (39) and Nick Berridge (37 not out) hit eight sixes between them as slow bowlers Ray Clarke and Sam Farncombe came in for some heavy punishment.