Leatherhead Cricket Club hosted its 175th anniversary celebration at Fetcham Grove on Friday, July 25th. A Lashings World XI joined club members, guests and players for a junior coaching session in the morning followed by a celebratory lunch and T20 match.

Tickets for the day sold out and spectators were treated to some excellent cricket. We were delighted to host Lashings ambassador, Sir Gordon Greenidge and World-renowned cricket commentator, Henry Blofeld. Henry entertained spectators with his legendary live commentary on the match. The Lashings team included former international legends, Sir Curtley Ambrose, Courtney Walsh, John Emburey, Martin Bicknell, Nicky Boje and Chris Schofield amongst many others. Former Love Island star Hugo Hammond also took to the field.

Lashings won the toss and chose to bat, scoring 179 for 6 in their 20 overs. Former England international, Owais Shah, top scored with 43, ably supported with contributions from former West Indian international, Kirk Edwards, and former Pakistan international, Yasir Arafat. The pick of the Leatherhead bowlers were brothers Leo and Nathaniel Hunter with 2 for 19 and 1 for 14 respectively. Esmae Vos, Aydin Huseyin and Akhil Garimella also picked up one wicket each.

Leatherhead openers James Crowson and Dave Mercer responded with an excellent opening partnership of 76 off 53 balls before Crowson was stumped by Hugo Hammond off John Emburey. Megan Cannon who, along with Esmae Vos, was one of two girls in the Leatherhead team, joined Mercer and both batted very well before retiring on 12 and 39 respectively. Megan and Esmae are fabulous young players amongst a thriving and growing women and girls’ section at Leatherhead. Tom Baldwin added a rapid 38 runs after escaping a first ball dismissal when umpire, Greg Ireland, declared a no ball.

Alex Waterman and wicketkeeper Fin Rose both made short but valuable contributions before being dismissed so it was left to Simon Roberts and Curtis Fourie to secure victory, needing 17 off the last 7 balls. A wide followed by 2 runs to Fourie, left Roberts on strike requiring 14 runs off the last over. A couple of boundaries, a wide and two quickly run 2s, meant the scores were tied with one ball to go. Roberts steered the last ball through the covers to secure the single required and Leatherhead won by 7 wickets!

A fabulous day enjoyed by everyone in the ground. A sincere thank you to Lashings for helping to make our celebration so memorable and to all the volunteers who worked so hard to make the day a success. Our Junior Chair, Lauren Ireland and Fundraising Lead, Emma Baldwin deserve special mention because their incredible enthusiasm and leadership were amazing and so appreciated by everyone who experienced such a wonderful celebration of our 175th birthday!