The next opponents were Surrey in the county championship. Surrey and Cricket Web had history from the National League 2 title race the previous year and the animosity had only increased during the close season as Mark Ramprakash had caught Mr Wright in bed with his wife. Sam Vimes also had an affair with Graham Thorpe’s wife but if the rumours are to be believed so has half of London. Surrey were leading the county championship with 3 wins from 3
So it was with Grim determination that CW travelled to the Oval, wholesale changes were made to the line-up, some enforced, some not. Out went Malone and Vimes on international duty, Cloete was injured, Chapman rested and Craze and Mr Wright were dropped. In came Brad Smith, Richards, Kearsley, Thomas, Hall and Weber.
Surrey won the toss and batted and despite 2 early wickets from Hall, Hollioake and Ramprakash smashed centuries to propel Surrey to 408 and put them in control. Richards was the pick of the bowlers with 5-95
In reply the CW openers both notched half centuries but neither went on and no-one lese passed 50, CW out for a disappointing 246 and asked to follow on.
Once again the openers got a good start but this time Brad Smith went on and scored his maiden FC ton, then he turned it into a double ton, with assistance from Weber who missed out on his own ton by just 1 and Bluefox who scored an unbeaten 56. CW declared at lunch on day 4 , 452-4 - setting Surrey 291 to win.
The win was out of Surrey’s hands but the batsmen didn’t play like it Reckless shots gifted Thomas 2 wickets and CW smelt blood, the in form Halsey tore in to the batting and ravaged the line-up, helped by Richards he took 6-66 and Surrey were out in the penultimate over of the match for 236, a great win.
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Surrey v Cricket Web
County Championship - D1 - 15 May 2003
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Surrey - 1st Innings
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J Ratcliffe c Thomas b Hall 5
M Ramprakash b Richards 177
A Brown b Hall 0
A Hollioake b Thomas 106
I Ward c & b Richards 34
S Newman lbw b Richards 15
A Tudor st Weber b Richards 10
J Batty lbw b Richards 0
M Bicknell b Halsey 30
J Ormond c Eclipse b Halsey 4
E Giddins not out 0
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Extras (nb6,w2,b10,lb9) 27
TOTAL (all out, 136.5 ovrs) 408
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O M R W
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BlueFox 6 1 10 0
D Richards 39 8 95 5
Eclipse 4 0 12 0
R Thomas 17 1 66 1
T Halsey 26.5 3 56 2
D Hall 23 5 64 2
D Kearsley 21 1 86 0
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1-15 2-15 3-205 4-267 5-293 6-311
7-317 8-400 9-404 10-408
Cricket Web - 1st Innings
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Eclipse c Newman b Tudor 54
B Smith c Batty b Tudor 50
N Nichani b Bicknell 36
T Weber b Hollioake 9
BK Smith b Bicknell 22
BlueFox b Ormond 3
D Richards b Ormond 19
D Kearsley c Ratcliffe b Ormond 7
T Halsey b Tudor 24
D Hall b Giddins 9
R Thomas not out 0
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Extras (nb10,w2,b1) 13
TOTAL (all out, 63.1 overs) 246
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O M R W
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A Hollioake 5 0 12 1
E Giddins 11 3 21 1
M Bicknell 17 2 86 2
A Tudor 11.1 0 44 3
J Ormond 19 2 82 3
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1-108 2-121 3-137 4-178 5-185 6-185
7-204 8-217 9-246 10-246
Cricket Web - 2nd Innings
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Eclipse c Batty b Bicknell 54
B Smith not out 205
N Nichani b Bicknell 17
T Weber c Batty b Hollioake 99
BK Smith c Batty b Ratcliffe 1
BlueFox not out 56
D Richards
D Kearsley
T Halsey
D Hall
R Thomas
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Extras (nb8,b8,lb4) 20
TOTAL (4 wkts, 144.5 ovrs) 452
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O M R W
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J Ratcliffe 1 0 2 1
A Hollioake 16 2 42 1
J Ormond 35 3 106 0
M Bicknell 36.5 8 116 2
E Giddins 32 3 97 0
A Tudor 24 1 77 0
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1-121 2-141 3-320 4-321
Surrey - 2nd Innings
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J Ratcliffe b Halsey 55
M Ramprakash b Thomas 15
A Brown c Smith b Thomas 9
A Hollioake c & b Halsey 34
I Ward b Halsey 41
S Newman c Thomas b Halsey 19
A Tudor b Halsey 19
J Batty c Kearsley b Richards 0
M Bicknell b Halsey 25
J Ormond b Richards 0
E Giddins not out 10
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Extras (nb8,lb1) 9
TOTAL (all out, 66.4 overs) 236
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O M R W
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D Richards 21 1 62 2
T Halsey 23.4 4 66 6
R Thomas 14 0 66 2
D Hall 4 0 17 0
D Kearsley 4 0 24 0
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1-41 2-53 3-110 4-123 5-161 6-190
7-191 8-203 9-206 10-236
Second Team Performances
Sean Bennett( 67*, 4), Chaulk(12, 4) Ferd(7, 30), Blewy(19 & 48, 1-37), Nathan Hoy (6 & 76*), Age Master(27, 13), D Jellett(INJ),J Gray(INJ), Craze( 126, 109), Cloete(INJ), Mr Wright(15 & 16, 2-28 & 3-27) Patrick Nath(48 & 8, 4-56 & 5-70), Chapman(Rested), Pickup(6 & 13, 1-29 & 0-43)
On International Duty:
Malone(17, 3-37 & 2-54)
Vimes (15)
England won by an Innings/17 runs