By Charles Randall
14 July 2015
The first Test in Cardiff proved to be a great Ashes disappointment for Australia's coach Darren Lehman, and his son Jake has found his summer of club cricket in England less than easy.
Jake, 23, a left-hander like his father, made his South Australia debut this year and came over to play for Reigate Priory as a British passport holder, with the former South Australia batsman Andy Delmont returning as the club's overseas player.
As Surrey Championship title holders, Reigate were expecting a strong showing, but three defeats left them trailing behind Sunbury. On Saturday, the day Australia lost the opening Test, Sunbury's unblemished record of nine consecutive wins this season was spoilt by a shock home defeat by Guildford, but second-placed Priory failed to take advantage when they lost heavily to Weybridge.
Failure against Weybridge, a 144-run defeat, took Lehmann's league average down to 35.75, with only 286 runs from 10 innings. His 69 off 36 balls against bottom team Leatherhead remained his highest score. As the son of state cricket's all-time highest run-scorer, Jake has the pedigree to improve this summer – as with the touring Australians in the Ashes series. Darren, who watched his son make a fifty on his Sheffield Shield debut, would certainly like to see an upturn in both quarters.
Reigate, winners of the 2014 Conference Cup, could field an exceptional bowling attack, most notably the left-arm spinner Luke Beaven and former Surrey seamer Neil Saker, but they shipped runs against Sunbury, Sutton and Weybridge to leave Lehman and company with too much to do.
An undefeated innings of 144 for Sunbury by John Maunders batted Reigate out of the early meeting, a lovely century for Sutton by MCC Schools batsman Harry Allen, 19, set up a big win in that game and then the South African Sarel Erwee hit 145 for Weybridge, leaving Priory nowhere.
Sunbury, National Club finalists in 2014, are enjoying a wonderful era on the field, and their nine out of nine start was no surprise, though the setback against Guildford came as a jolt. Despite a fluent 80 from Guildford's Australian import Lincoln Edwards, a score of 221-8 looked vulnerable, but Sunbury's batting suffered a collective off day, mainly against Oliver Birts (4-43). They were shot out for 124, with last man Ajit Singh Sambhi top scoring on 25 after a last-wicket stand of 41.
14 July 2015
The first Test in Cardiff proved to be a great Ashes disappointment for Australia's coach Darren Lehman, and his son Jake has found his summer of club cricket in England less than easy.
Jake, 23, a left-hander like his father, made his South Australia debut this year and came over to play for Reigate Priory as a British passport holder, with the former South Australia batsman Andy Delmont returning as the club's overseas player.
As Surrey Championship title holders, Reigate were expecting a strong showing, but three defeats left them trailing behind Sunbury. On Saturday, the day Australia lost the opening Test, Sunbury's unblemished record of nine consecutive wins this season was spoilt by a shock home defeat by Guildford, but second-placed Priory failed to take advantage when they lost heavily to Weybridge.
Failure against Weybridge, a 144-run defeat, took Lehmann's league average down to 35.75, with only 286 runs from 10 innings. His 69 off 36 balls against bottom team Leatherhead remained his highest score. As the son of state cricket's all-time highest run-scorer, Jake has the pedigree to improve this summer – as with the touring Australians in the Ashes series. Darren, who watched his son make a fifty on his Sheffield Shield debut, would certainly like to see an upturn in both quarters.
Reigate, winners of the 2014 Conference Cup, could field an exceptional bowling attack, most notably the left-arm spinner Luke Beaven and former Surrey seamer Neil Saker, but they shipped runs against Sunbury, Sutton and Weybridge to leave Lehman and company with too much to do.
An undefeated innings of 144 for Sunbury by John Maunders batted Reigate out of the early meeting, a lovely century for Sutton by MCC Schools batsman Harry Allen, 19, set up a big win in that game and then the South African Sarel Erwee hit 145 for Weybridge, leaving Priory nowhere.
Sunbury, National Club finalists in 2014, are enjoying a wonderful era on the field, and their nine out of nine start was no surprise, though the setback against Guildford came as a jolt. Despite a fluent 80 from Guildford's Australian import Lincoln Edwards, a score of 221-8 looked vulnerable, but Sunbury's batting suffered a collective off day, mainly against Oliver Birts (4-43). They were shot out for 124, with last man Ajit Singh Sambhi top scoring on 25 after a last-wicket stand of 41.