FARNHAM are still looking for their first win of the season, having suffered three consecutive defeats in the Surrey Championship limited-overs format.

Nothing is going Tom Grimes’ way at present, least of all the toss, and on Saturday Farnham were inserted by Old Whitgiftians on a sticky-looking pitch at Croydon.

Openers Toby Davies and Joel Walker looked assured at the start and it was an unwelcome interruption when rain forced the players off for 30 minutes.

On the restart, Whitgiftians made a fortuitious breakthrough when a ball from Dan Kenton bowled Davies via thigh-pad and arm.

Eight balls later, Kenton produced a beauty to bowl Guy Hicks and Farnham were 29-2. However, Walker and Toby Ward wrested back the initiative with a counter-attacking stand of 60, both dispatching the bad deliveries to increase the run-rate significantly.

The home team turned to spin and, at 89, Ward was undone by Nikhil Patel. Walker continued to bat beautifully, taking Farnham past 100 and reaching a fine 50 in the process. However, three wickets fell quickly, with Harshil Shah trapping Walker in front, and Farnham were in trouble at 107-6.

Grimes and Chris Terry dug in during a tough period against the spinners, picking up runs where they could to edge Farnham towards a competitive total.

The pair had moved the score to 150 when Grimes was bowled for 27 with six overs to go.

This brought in George Osborne to play a nice cameo – 26 not out off 25 balls – and Farnham reached a competitive 188-8 from their 50 overs.

Old Whitgiftians were positive from the start, looking to immediately get ahead of the asking rate. Chris Thompson, in particular, latched onto anything loose and Farnham struggled to make a breakthrough.

Finally, at 72, Rob Dale broke the stand, thanks to a fine catch by Toby Davies at short cover. Grimes then introduced the spin of Terry and himself, and the run-rate slowed.

Grimes had Joe Murtagh caught by Hicks and Terry removed Thompson for 69 off 87 balls. And with the re-introduction of Dale, bowling a probing line to take 4-29 in 10 overs, Whitgiftians went from 140-2 to 152-6, and Farnham sensed there was a chance of victory.

It was not to be. Skipper Mo Raza saw his side to the brink of victory before late wickets for Grimes and Rob Goldsworthy set up a tense final few overs. Raza held firm and steered his side to a two-wicket win in the 48th over.

This Saturday, Farnham host Chipstead Coulsdon & Walcountians who boast a 100 per cent record at the top of the Division?One table.