Farnham slipped to a 43-run defeat at home to Epsom in Division Three West of the Surrey Championship.

Under dark, overcast skies and with ominous clouds hanging over Farnham throughout the afternoon, skipper James Berry won the toss and elected to bowl first in conditions that looked ideal for seam bowling.

Farnham started positively and kept Epsom in check during the early stages, with Jack Bastian making early inroads. Epsom slipped to 45 for two, giving the home side the early advantage, but the visitors accelerated impressively through the end overs to eventually post a strong 271 for six from their 50 overs.

The backbone of the innings was an excellent century from Angelo Jayasinghe, who paced his knock superbly on his way to 101 from 107 balls. After arriving at the crease under some pressure, he gradually absorbed the conditions before beginning to dominate the scoring through the latter overs.

Farnham continued to work hard in the field, with Bastian finishing on three for 68 and Nathan Thorpe, missing the outside edge on multiple occasions, returning disciplined figures of two for 47 from his ten overs. Thomas Allam was particularly impressive, bowling his overs ten straight through during the middle phase of the innings and conceding just 36 runs.

Chasing 272, Farnham needed a strong start but lost Andy Cullen early. Thorpe and Tom Flack rebuilt positively, before Thorpe fell for 24 with the score at 67. Flack made 39 and Berry added 41, while Thomas Grimes contributed 33, but Farnham’s innings was characterised by several batters getting starts without anyone going on to produce the substantial innings needed in a chase of that size.

Although Daniel Wakely and Charlie Hooker provided some late resistance with an unbeaten last wicket partnership of 39, Farnham closed on 228 for nine.

Farnham travel to Ashford on Saturday.