Surrey's Rory Burns with an unbeaten ton

With the season drawing to a close, Wimbledon have virtually secured the Ryman Surrey Championship Premier Division title after another dominating win this weekend.

Although their closest rivals Sunbury were also victorious, Wimbledon’s victory over Guildford – combined with the ever decreasing number of games left to catch the south London club – has put them in prime position at the top of the table.

At the bottom, Ashtead and Cheam are slipping closer to relegation after both losing this weekend, to Reigate Priory and Normandy respectively. The final match, a mid-table tussle, saw Banstead’s batting power see them comfortably get past Sutton.

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Ashtead CC (251/8) lost to Reigate Priory CC (253/6) by four wickets

After losing the toss and being put into bat, Ashtead got off to an ideal start as Dominic Sibley (55) and Zac Elkin (56) put on a smooth partnership of 104 for the first wicket.

Sadly for the hosts though, neither batsman could reproduce their game clinching form of previous weeks and both fell to Toby Briggs when they looked well set to go on and score big totals.

Although the middle order of John Vaughan-Davies (23), Surrey’s Gary Wilson (11) and Matthew Friedlander (30) tried to carry on, they were all cut off in their prime – with Wilson’s capture by Surrey colleague Jason Roy sure to be a memorable event for the pair – and Ashtead were unable to put together any more meaningful partnerships as they eventually posted 251/8 from their fifty overs.

After Fraser McDonald (0), Neal Parlane (11) and particularly Jason Roy (32) all fell early, Ashtead looked to be well within a shout of defending their total.

However, Reigate then succeeded where they had failed, with Chris Murtagh playing a captain’s innings of 94 from number four and finding good support from Matthew Bennett (21), Chris Morgan (28) and Neil Saker (14*) before falling four short of his ton.

Although time was coming on and Reigate still needed 45 to win, Saker, on seven, was then joined by William Hodson, who smashed a brilliant 36 not out from just eighteen balls to see the visitors to victory with four balls remaining.

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Guildford CC (209/6) lost to Wimbledon CC (337/9) by 128 runs

After winning the toss and deciding to bat, Guildford had early hope of dethroning the dominant league leaders when Graham Grace (27), Raymond de Passos (12) and Martin Kain (2) all fell early to leave them 58/3.

That is about as good as it got for the Woodbridge Road outfit however, with captain Neil Turk stopping the rot with an easily paced 59 before more brutal knocks from Sebastian Francke-Matthecka (83) and Steven Hobson (57) upped both the pace and the total quite quickly.

A series of late order cameos from Gerry Penford (20), Hiran Marambe (35) and Darren Hooey (20* off just six balls) saw Wimbledon add even more to their total, eventually ending on an imposing 337/9.

This target was always going to prove hard to chase down but in a somewhat bizarre innings, Guildford did not really seem to attempt a full blown chase.

Openers Thomas Tremewan (36 off 17) and Ben Walter (4 off 25) got things off to a watchful start and with the exception of Matthew Teale’s 82 off 72, the pace never really picked up from there.

Teale participated in two good partnerships – firstly with Tom Collins (48) and then Tom Bancroft (16*) but the speed of the run scoring never challenged the visitors and Guildford ended their 50 overs on 209/6, a full 128 runs short of their notional target.

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Normandy CC (130/3) beat Cheam CC (126 all out) by seven wickets

Cheam won the toss and batted at Normandy but were soon in trouble as Paul King removed both David Houpapa (8) and number three Michael Burgess (0) with only eight on the board.

Bradley Scriven (8) soon followed and were it not for Steve Clark’s 52*, the innings could have been over before it even began. However, Clark showed solidity and fortitude as he stayed strong at one end and looked for support from his team mates.

This largely did not come, with only Chris Salmons (14) making double figures, but Dan Johnson survived 29 deliveries for his three, allowing Clark time to do his best and when King returned to remove last man Mark Burns for four, Clark was still unbeaten and Cheam finished on 126 all out from 42.4 overs.

Normandy would have been confident of overcoming this target but the early losses of captain James Clutterbuck (11) and Ahillen Beadle (0) put things quickly into perspective.

However, a fantastic partnership then developed for the third wicket with Howard Grice (66) and Ian Prowse (44*) putting on 93 and leaving Peter Wellings (2*) to join Prowse as they secured victory from just 25.4 overs.

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Sunbury CC (219/8) beat Weybridge CC (64 all out) by 155 runs

A characteristically large winning margin from Sunbury gave the lie to an uncharacteristic performance as one of the league’s most powerful batting sides won this match with a brilliant bowling performance.

Winning the toss and batting at the Geoff Kaye Memorial Ground, Sunbury lost John Maunders (7), Andrew Balbirnie (11) and Adam London (3) early on.

Only 82 from Oliver Roland-Jones could give the innings any momentum and – after Gavin Spencer went for 23 – he was grateful for the lower order efforts of Justin Granger (15), Adam Stanier (12) and Alex Senneck (20*) as they eventually limped to 219/8.

With a low total on the board, third placed Weybridge would have liked their chances of pulling off a shock result. However the Sunbury bowlers – led by Justin Granger – were determined to atone for their batsmen’s shortcomings.

After Senneck and Granger saw early success, removing Anthony Atkinson, Jordan McKinley and Joel Pope, they were briefly delayed by a gritty partnership between Tom Winslade (14) and Adam Bennett (6). When Bennett was caught by Senneck off Granger, Weybridge were reduced to 54/4, but would not have expected what was to come.

The highest score managed by the Weybridge bottom six was Steve McDonald’s four and – with the exception of McDonald, the last man out– the longest they were able to survive was Henry Turner’s four balls.

Weybridge were quickly skittled for just 64 from 21.1 overs, losing by a giant 155 runs – Granger leading the attack with 5/32.

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Sutton CC (224/8) lost to Banstead CC (228/1) by nine wickets

After losing the toss and being put into bat, Sutton made a well put together innings after losing their first four – including Surrey’s Arun Harinath – with the score on 65.

The key to their total of 224 was a partnership of 109 for the fifth wicket between captain Gary Outram (64) and David Sampson (51) but late knocks from Pradeep Jeyapragashtharan (22) and some fireworks from wicket keeper Russell Coombe (11*) saw them safely to what seemed to be a defendable target.

However, once Banstead got over the shock of losing Surrey’s Matthew Spriegel (5) with the score on just 11, Spriegel’s Surrey colleague Rory Burns (102*) - pictured - combined with wicket keeper Jak Martin (100*) to put on a brilliant partnership of 217 and win the game between them with a full 7.2 overs remaining.