ASHWELL were unfortunate to lose away at Dullingham on Saturday after a battling performance with both the bat and ball.

Ashwell were asked to bat and took some time to get to grips with the seaming conditions – both opening batsmen were lost before the score hit 20, but a solid rebuilding job was undertaken by Mark Doughty (17) and Jonathan Merrell (44), who boosted the Ashwell total to 76 before Doughty was dismissed in the 20th over.

Thankfully, there was no collapse, as Gary Simmons (23) looked in fine touch before getting one that nipped back and took the inside edge, and then Martn Deal (45*) marshalled the tail superbly in lifting Ashwell to 190-8 in the full 45 overs.

Simmons (1-42) struck early in Dullingham’s reply, but Baldwin (42) and Spiers (55) batted sensibly in ticking off the four runs needed per over to keep Dullingham up with the required run-rate.

Ashwell were never able to put enough pressure on the batsmen despite Tim Moynihan’s 2-44, and a couple of dropped catches at crucial times were the final nails in Ashwell’s hopes of recording a win.

Other Dullingham wickets fell to Merrell and Alex Griffin, but Dullingham made it across the line at 191-5 with three overs to spare.

This coming weekend Ashwell play host to Eversden in the league on Saturday, while Sunday sees the annual Chairman’s XI v Presidents XI match – a game that will be prefaced by a celebratory lunch to mark the 60th anniversary of the construction of the pavilion on Ashwell’s recreation ground.