Esher Under 15’s began their 2010 Mid-Surrey League campaign with a home fixture against Ashtead played at Hersham Cricket Club on Sunday 26th April.  Due to the early start to the season a number of players were unavailable due to commitments to rugby and football, resulting in Esher fielding a team containing two under 13 players.

Having lost the toss, Esher were put into bat by Ashtead.  Batting through a number of rain showers, the under 15’s reached a respectable 135 for 6 off their allocated 24 overs, thanks largely to an unbeaten 62 from Alex Waghorn.  This was backed up by a rapid 22 from Chris Parrish, the runs coming quickly from a characteristically aggressive batting approach.

Defending their 135 total, Esher got off to a flying start with Alex Waghorn bowling the top Ashtead batsman in the first over.  After the early loss, Ashtead progressed steadily, reaching 100 for 2, scoring ahead of the required run rate, and looking set for a comfortable victory.  Alex Waghorn then returned to the bowling to break the crucial third wicket partnership, sparking a dramatic Ashtead collapse.  The main damage was done by spinner Thomas Burnett who took 5 wickets in 3 maiden overs, twice having the opportunity of a hat-trick.  The first of the five came from an outstanding one-handed overhead catch by Stefan Ullrich and was followed up by an LBW, a caught and bowled and two clean bowled.

Having looked destined for defeat, the Under 15’s captured the last 8 Ashtead wickets for just 15 runs, leaving the opposition with a total of just 115 - a 20 run victory for Esher.  The win was made all the more impressive by the fact the team included two under 13 players (Edward Campbell and Jack Simpkin, both of whom performed admirably) and that Esher fielded a large proportion of the innings with only 10 men as a result of an injury to Sam Nutt.