Andrew’s aces win the day at Wimbledon

The last sixteen of the ECB Club Championship saw the Rams making history, and hoping to create more history, as this was the furthest they had ever been in this prestigious competition. They were drawn away, again, this time against the reigning Surrey Premier League Champions Wimbledon. The Rams record of four EAPL titles in five years is impressive enough but the opposition have twelve Surrey Premierships and three wins in the ECB National Club Twenty20!

The ground which is just yards from the famed tennis courts of Wimbledon which have seen some five-set thrillers, served up one of its own on Sunday.

The Rams won the toss and chose to bowl. Three of the home sides’ top four Tim Lloyd, Jack Boyle and Billy Sewell had already registered centuries in the group stage of the competition. Lloyd opened up with Adam Fox, who yesterday was the more fluent of the pair. The home side had progressed to twenty-nine for no wicket after eight overs when Ethan Rice (1-35)  induced a frustrated shot from Lloyd; and Singh, who had been impressive in his opening spell with the ball, took the catch. Fox was joined at the crease by Boyle and they moved the score along to seventy-seven in the fifteenth when the Rams went ‘bang-bang’, to use James Sykes’ favourite saying, first Jack Beaumont had Boyle (22 from 27) caught, again by Singh, and then just four runs later Ben Claydon had Fox (46 from 45) caught by Hayward on the boundary attempting to take advantage of the small boundaries with a lofted off-drive. This wicket brought Dane Vilas to the crease, a former South African test and T20 international who had a long career with Lancashire; before being appointed interim head coach at Middlesex. Vilas was appointed as Academy Head Coach at Wimbledon in April 2026; this underlined how big a Club the hosts are. The pair took Wimbledon to one hundred and three for three at drinks, halfway through the allotted forty overs. To continue with the tennis analogies the Rams gained a break of service when three balls after drinks Sykes had Sewell (14 off 24) caught by Claydon. Vilas (42 off 33) who perhaps looked the most fluent batsman in the innings then added forty-three with Dougie Beckett. The Rams however went ‘bang-bang’ as Singh (1-30) forced Beckett (10 off 16) to play on and then Sykes accounted for Vilas; with Sykes doing a passable impression of Imran Tahir as he sped off in celebration. At one hundred and fifty-two for six at the end of twenty-nine overs, the Rams had clinched the first set! Alexander Barrett then tried to marshal the tail as he added thirty with Tom Wilkins (6 off 15). With the bugle sounded for the last five over dash the Rams struck back to take three wickets for two runs in nine balls. Beaumont (3-40) accounted for Wilkins and home skipper Stephen Reeves and in between Claydon (2-19)  dismissed Sam Freestone. The last pair Barrett (39 from 47) and Riley Coy (3 no off 8) squeezed another nineteen runs to take the total to two hundred and three before they took on Rice’s arm in the final over and Barrett was run out (second set to the Rams). It had been an excellent bowling performance where despite some big overs they had kept their nerve and discipline.

On a wicket where it looked particularly tricky for any new batter partnerships were, as ever, vital for a successful run chase. The Rams therefore must have been delighted to get through the first power play on forty for no wicket; with the only dramas being Guest dropped at slip, albeit a difficult chance, and the skipper watching on in horror as the ball rolled back to gently nudge his leg stump off a ball that hit him in his midriff.  The Rams fifty partnership came up off fifty-nine balls; the skipper then moved to his second half century of the weekend (from 45 balls). At that point the Rams were in full control (two sets and a break up, perhaps). The home side however had other ideas and were ‘gifted’ their first wicket when Hayward (39 off 58 deliveries) was run out with the score on ninety-five at the end of the eighteenth.

The home side and in particular the spin duo of Lloyd and Reeves then squeezed with Guest and new man Rice (19 from 34) adding just thirty-nine runs off sixty-six balls. Reeves (1-31) struck back after being hit for a rare boundary by Rice to bowl him. The required rate had just tipped over the six runs an over mark for about the first time in the contest (two sets to one and game on).  Ben Claydon (19 off 23) then joined the skipper and the pair added forty-one of the seventy required. However, Coy then had Claydon caught by Beckett as he tried unsuccessfully to find a pressure releasing boundary. Although the rate was only just above six it was significant that Wimbledon had got a new man at the crease (the home side taking the fourth set on a tie break!). The home side squeezed again as the next nine balls only yielded seven runs. With three overs to go on a tiring surface the Rams needed almost eight runs an over.  At that point Andrew decided it was time; he swung hard at the first ball and was rewarded with a healthy edge to third man for four. If there was an element of luck about that what followed on the third and fifth balls certainly wasn’t as he ‘aced’ the unfortunate Coy for two sixes. He took a single off the last ball. The Rams required five from the last two overs; however that man Andrew decided that one ball would be sufficient as he smashed the first ball of Freestone’s over for six. Andrew finished on twenty-six (from 12 deliveries with a strike rate of 217) and overshadowing, perhaps a little unfairly, Guest’s contribution (95 no from 102 balls). This was the skipper’s second ninety plus unbeaten knock of the weekend!

The Rams face another Surrey Premier side Sutton, this time at home, in the last eight. The game may need to be rearranged as the scheduled date clashes with the Rams hosting Cambridgeshire in a three-day match at Spicers.