The Gnomes annihilated a Banstead Sunday XI yesterday, with Tom Godfrey scoring the third Gnome ton of the season. Gnome's 221-win victory was the
largest margin in their history, while the victory, 21st of the season, set another record.

Matt Cannon won the toss and elected to bat on a perfect autumn day. Ollie Dunthorne and the Lemmings' Simon Wood scored freely from the start, but
their partnership ended at 34 in the 8th over when umpire John Dunthorne gave Simon out lbw off a full toss. Ollie was caught behind off a lifter for
23 with the score at 60 and then came the largest partnership of the match as Tom Godfrey aimed for the fastest 50 of the season. He was dropped at
fine leg on 47 but by then had fallen behind the target, his 50 coming in 40 balls. England's Clare Taylor was batting steadily and at 20 overs Gnome
were 103 for 2.

Tom moved into overdrive and scored his second 50 in the next 21 balls, including 17 4s and one six. He moved to his ton with a reverse sweep and
off his next ball targeted Nick Harris, playing in his second match of the season and subbing for Banstead at deep square leg. Nick dropped a
difficult catch and Tom was bowled off his legs next ball trying to repeat the shot. Tom's 102 was the third highest Gnome score of the season.

Matt Cannon came to the wicket with Gnome at 162-3 in the 26th over. There was also a match within the match, as Tom's score had taken him into top
place in the contest for most runs for the season. Matt needed 36 to overhaul him but was bowled, head up, on 34, off 21 balls.

The score was 226-5 and Clare was bowled for 44 11 runs later. Chris Lear was bowled for a duck on the same score but Mark Way, not out 23 and Nick
Harris, 22, brought a brisk end to the innings, scoring 38 in the last 6 overs to take Gnome to 275-6. Chris Gill, who had lobbied shamelessly to
be moved up from 11th place in the batting order, despite arriving more than an hour late, was left padded up and frustrated on the boundary edge. Top
Banstead bowler was Lester with 3-47.

Banstead never looked capable of approaching the mammoth Gnome total and their waiting batsmen preferred to watch the excitements of the Ryder Cup,
the incoming batsmen bringing Gnome news of the state of play. Highlights of the innings included a smart double slip catch, with Ollie parrying the
ball to Chris, to dismiss the Banstead number 1 for 9 off Matt. Gnome were awarded 3 lbws, two of them by John Dunthorne who had undertaken to
bend over backwards to be fair. With wickets falling steadily, the main interest - apart from the Ryder Cup - became whether Gnome could beat its
record victory by 218 runs, achieved against Albert Taverners in 1981.

Banstead reached 44 for 4, 13 short of the record margin, but then lost four wickets on the same score. One was to the Lemmings' Jim Baker, caught
behind by Clare; two (the Dunthorne lbws) to Chris Gill; and one (a third lbw, given by a home umpire) to Pete Gillman. The ninth wicket put on 9
but then Pete Gillman took the last two wickets, sharp catches by Chris Lear and Mark Way, in his second and final over. Banstead were all out for 54,
bringing Gnome its new record by 3 runs.

Pete had 3-1 off 1.5 overs, Chris 3-9 off 5, Jim 3-25 off 8, Matt 1-17 off 5. The match and the season closed with Gnome's 21st victory. The full
account reads P26 W21 D1 L4, surpassing the tally of 18 wins in 1989. Tom Godfrey was the season's top scorer on 603 (M Cannon: 601), Pete had most
wickets with 42.