Farnham welcomed old rivals Camberley to the park on Saturday looking to extend their winning streak. Fielding first in the scorching weather, Tom Grimes looked to the old faithful partnership Rob Goldsworthy and Mike O’Mahoney to get his team off to a good start on the green wicket prepared by Rob Dale. Camberley’s openers Hutcheson and Ahmed played watchfully and made slow progress, O’Mahoney providing particularly good control and with the score on 55 he had Ahmed caught from a ferocious delivery, snared by Dom Lloyd. With O’Mahoney bowled through, returning with figures of one for 18 off his allotted 8 overs, Captain Grimes looked to the first change options of young Luke Griffiths and old timer Jim Berry. The change did the trick when Berry had Dominic Peter caught behind by Pope for 2 leaving the visitors 67-2. More slow progress was made by Camberley and Farnham did well to keep the scoring to a reasonable rate, Thorpe, playing in his first game for the year, bowling particularly well. The Todd Hutcheson and James Crosthwaite partnership got their team to 142 when another change of bowling, this time to Dom Lloyd, saw him sending Todd back to the hutch for a well made 60. The returning Rob Goldsworthy had Richardson clean bowled, however the final overs saw Camberley put the pressure on Farnham, scoring 45 from the final 4 overs finishing on 203-4, Crosthwaite ending on 77 not out from only 62 deliveries. A good effort from Farnham restricting the visitors to a very achievable target.
Opening the batting for Farnham were the aggressive Toby Ward and the classy Nathan Thorpe, refreshed from a couple of weeks off. The home side got off to a sticky start when Ward was caught down the leg side for only 4. Jim Berry batting at 3 joined Thorpe and the pair made progress, including an enormous 6 from Thorpe into the golf course car park. The good work was undone however when Berry played his second poor shot in two weeks trapped LBW for 12 by Stephens. Wickets continued to fall for Farnham, Pope was caught behind off Ahmed, Rooney caught off ball of the day from Green and Grimes unlucky to be bowled by a delivery that bounced from nowhere by Green and Farnham found themselves 103 for 5 with Thorpe the thorn in Camberley’s side. Russ Golding joined best friend Thorpe however his stay was also cut short by Green and when O’Mahoney offered a return catch to the same bowler the hosts were in dire straits. Luke Griffiths batted sensibly with Thorpe and the pair seemed to be taking the innings to the final overs to set up a thrilling finish however Thorpe’s fantastic innings was finally curtailed by Green, his 82 from 91 gave Farnham a glimmer of hope. With the score only on 140 Griffiths was bowled and the game seemed over however some late hitting from Goldsworthy and Lloyd kept the home side interested until Goldsworthy was removed to leave Farnham 170 all out. A frustrating day for Farnham after many positives from the bowling performance, the batting performance wasn’t up to scratch against a quality Camberley side.