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Old Hambledonians v Ashling 6th June 2010 Ashling won by three wickets There was dancing on the streets of East and West Ashling as Nic Loubser celebrated his return from South Africa with a matchwinning 50. Small children lined the route back to the Bat and Ball strewing flower petals in his path knowing that they would one day be able to tell their own grandchildren that Nic Loubser himself had walked past, and stolen their sandwiches. Set a modest target of exactly 100 to win, Ashling wobbled badly and apart from the prince of batsmen himself the batting lineup failed to make any impression. With seven wickets down an unlikely result was a possibility, but fortunately Craig Hillier must have misheard the instructions to play cautiously as he swiped the first three balls he faced to leg for the winning ten runs. Earlier a fine bowling and fielding performance had restricted Hambledonians to 99 all out. Opening bowlers Steve Harvey (6-2-8-1) and Tom Balingal (5-1-9-0) ensured that Hambledonians could not get into their stride. Fergus MacLehose bowled well without reward, but it was Henry Slatter who returned the best figures of the day with 3 for 22, aided in part by a magnificent catch by Balingal who hauled in a rifled off drive that was never more than a foot off the ground. Paul Colley took two catches behind the stumps. Craig Hillier and Adan Shaul weighed in with two wickets each, and the stage was set for the return of the master!
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