Ammar Tahir’s excellent opening spell with the ball set the tone for a fifth win of the season as Merstham as they won by eight wickets against Wandgas, who were all out for 70 when the two teams met in the Fuller's County League Division Two.

Mertham opened a 24-point gap over Chaldon at the top of the league after defeating Wandgas, who started the day third in the table, at Quality Street.

After a heavy morning shower, the track at Quality Street was damp but likely to dry given a forecast for drier and warmer weather.

Merstham skipper Naveed Saeed won the toss and invited visitors Wandgas, who were third in the table, to bat.

Tahir took 4-11 in his 11-over spell which included four maidens as the visitors struggled to gain momentum.

An excellent bowling and fielding performance restricted Wandgas to just 70, with Wasil Mohar (2-22 off 6) and Asim Jafferi (2-10 off 6) making inroads before Lithon Tarofder needed just four balls from his first over to take the final two victims.

In reply, Merstham lost Ashar Syed and Arsalan Abass early, but Jason Kyte (29) and Noman Javed (32) applied themselves sensibly and put together the partnership that earned a comfortable victory in the 22^nd over.

Merstham travel to winless Warlingham, who are bottom, on Saturday.

Imran Aslam took 6-26 in 18 overs, including 11 maidens, as the second team defeated Byfleet, who chose to bat. He also took a catch for the opening wicket off Manish Patel (3-22 off 19, 10 maidens) as the hosts were bowled out for 94 in 51 overs.

Jason Drewett (46) and Liam Powell (30) put on 78 for the first wicket before Powell was caught. Drewett was also caught, five runs later, and three more wickets fell before Patel (6 not out) notched the winning runs in the 28th over, with captain Richard Feist 0 not out at the other end. 

The thirds were dismissed for 119, having been asked to bat by hosts Addiscombe, with skipper Mike Hanlon (22) and Zeeshan Murtaza (21) the highest scorers in the 46 overs.

Merstham only managed to take one wicket, Sam Dennis caught by Kanchana Kahakachchi off Hanlon for 37, and eight bowlers could do little against the onslaught of opener Alex Smith who was 61 not out with two sixes to his name at the close, which came within 22 overs. Nabeel Ahmed bowled the only maiden in his five overs, conceding 14 runs.

The fourth team, at The Ring, seemed to be keeping the runs down against Addiscombe and had last year's danger man out cheaply only to find there was another capable of scoring 50.

The visitors were able to run up a good score in the second half of the innings and notch up 154 as a couple of catches were put down. Unfortunately the hosts, who had asked the visitors to bat, managed just over 50 in reply, although they came within six overs of obtaining a draw.

Number eight bat Alex Goodey, who top scored with 14, put in a valiant, mostly dead batting performance to try to frustrate Addiscombe, but eventually succombed and was the last wicket to fall.

The Sunday first team recorded another convincing win, at Wallington.

For the second year in a row for this fixture, Merstham batted first on a flat wicket, and racked up more than 300 runs, with all the top six batsmen getting some runs, though the highlight was a sparkling 122 for Arsalan Abbas, repeating his ton from last year.

Merstham closed their 40 overs on an imposing 320-5.

Taking to the field, Bobby Sharp and James Lowe kept a tight rein on the Wallington batsmen in an excellent opening spell, before more good bowling from Liam Powell, Jez Gray and the returning Andy Pearce restricted Wallington to 133-8 in their 40 overs.

Overall it was a good win for Merstham, in an enjoyable game played in good spirit.

The Sunday second team didn't fare so well at Quality Street and were unable to repeat their run-scoring against Chadwick of a year before, when they notched 175. This time they managed 75 all out after 29.2 overs. Left-hander Guy Appleby, age 14, showed much promise.

In reply, Sumair Qasim bowled very well in his six overs, conceding just 20 runs. But the task was always beyond the hosts as Chadwick reached their target in the 16th over.