Long Ditton's sides had mixed fortunes in their opening games of the 2008 Fuller's League season.

Long Ditton's first XI travelled to Effingham with a new-look side.

Having won the toss, Effingham decided to bat and reached 143 for nine of their allotted 52 overs. Highlight of Effingham's innings was 52 not from Mike Ford.

Gareth Plunkett took four wickets for Long Ditton, with three for Graham Coetzee.

In reply, the first XI coasted to victory, with Nick Stevens again in fine form, scoring 74 and was ably assisted by Jason Matthews, who reached 33, beating Effingham by seven wickets.

It was a different story in the opposite fixture, with the second XI at home to Effingham.

Having won the toss, Long Ditton decided to bat, but found runs hard to come by, scoring 113 all out from 43 overs.

Only Dave Oldham (30) and Michael Hall (42) really troubled the scorers, with Ben Cheema adding 13 down the order.

After tea, Long Ditton knew they had to fight really hard to defend the low total.

Openers Iqbal and Tomlinson put on 50 for the first wicket before Long Ditton got their breakthrough, Jerry Morton knocking the middle stump of the ground.

A superb catch by Dave Knight at gully and a great throw from James Mumford on the boundary to run out Tomlinson got Long Ditton back into the game.

Cheema picked up a well-deserved wicket, but Effingham were never under pressure, reaching the total with the loss of five wickets.

If Long Ditton had posted another 30 or 40 runs, the result could well have been different.