May 29th 1st XI home to Old Grammarians
Fullers Surrey County League Cup – Second Round.
Old Grammarians 172 for 9, Merstham 83 for 9
Lost by 89 runs.
Availability issues meant a club XI were selected against lofty opponents. Poor weather up to the match meant that far away travellers Dave Mann and Gary Lomas were stood down and with captain Danny Feist unavailable Ray Shinners stood in. He started well by winning the toss !
Old Grammarians were inserted after a 30 minute delay on a wet wicket and were allowed to make only steady progress against ten men, losing wickets regularly and never arising above four + an over due to accurate, straight bowling, notably from Joe Shinners (7 overs for 26) Poul Hughes (8 overs for 33) and Ray Shinners (8 overs for 23). As they looked to accelerate David Loaders flight and spin gave him 3 – 25 of his 8 overs, the opposition finishing 172 for 9 of 41 overs.
Heavy rain coincided with tea but when Merstham started their reply the opening pair of Thomas and Van Zilj swept us away. By the 10th over we were 17 for 7 and stubborn work from Shinners (10) prolonged the innings with Simon Rivers. Batting last with Loader, Rivers then accelerated with an outrageous innings of 51 ( in front of parents !) which included three 6’s before he was stumped !! Special mention must be made of Steve Payne who took four catches as reserve wicket-keeper and Chris Lowe who turned out at very short notice, as did a high class Feist tea..