Merstham were able to celebrate with extra vigour on their 150th anniversary Family Fun Day on Sunday after clinching the Fuller’s League Division Two title on Saturday.

 

Naveed Saeed’s side were slightly depleted of their regulars through holiday commitments but others stepped up to the challenge of winning for a side which has suffered only two league defeats this season.

 

Arsalan Abass struck a fantastic 68 as Merstham ran up 238-9 at John Fisher, who were second to bottom of the division.

Shakir Khan had begun the visitors’ innings with 36 and Manish Patel struck 38 and there was a flourish from Asim Jafferi, who  put on a partnership of 29 with skipper Saeed at the end.

 

The wickets were shared as Merstham dismissed their hosts for 168, with Wasil Mohar gaining 2-39 and Humayoon Nasir also taking two.

 

Saeed was also impressed with Gus Locke, a 16-year-old who has come through the ranks at the club and took a wicket with his second ball. Liam Powell, who leads the club’s development side on Sundays, also stepped in.

 

The skipper said: “It’s been a fantastic season and a real team effort.

 

“At the end of last year we had six players from the team we knew would be staying because some had moved away or stopped playing.

 

“We knew where we were short and we tried to build a settled side, so that if we knew we were going to be missing an opener one week we would replace them with an opener.

 

“We’ve constructed a side that bats all the way down and which has a variety of bowlers and hopefully we can have another great season next year.”

Merstham’s final game will be at Quality Street on Saturday, against bottom side Warlingham.

The club's other sides also remained undefeated last weekend.

The second team, who decided to bat, posted 250-5 against Churt, with openers Jason Drewett (95) and Richard Feist (46) putting on 108 for the first wicket. Later in the innings Olly Mayes was 22 not out and James Lowe scored 39.

In reply, the visitors ran their two openers out without scoring, before skipper Greg Talbot scored 26 and there next highest score was five as they were 56 all out in the 25th over, after enduring one of the longest journeys in the division.

Safyan Aslam took 3-4 off 9 overs (6 maidens), Imran Aslam 2-8 off 7 (3 maidens), Stuart Fielder 2-4 off 3.2 overs and Lowe 1-26 off 5.

The third team were handed full points when their opponents pulled out on the morning of the match while the fourths secured a losing draw, their second best result of the season - and best since the opening game.

Despite tight reverses, they have fostered a team spirit and knew they had the batting strengths, if all went to plan, to catch Sutton's 195-3 declared after 45 overs, with Sumair Qasim one of the wicket takers as he tries to finish top of the divison's bowling figures. He lies third with two matches left.

On a slowing outfield at The Ring - where the wooden fencing has now been removed which might mean it has to be renamed 'The Clearing' - Alex Goodey posted a quick-fire 21 and fellow opener Kashif Noon batted through 30 overs to bag a 50.

This set up an interesting situation, because at 20 overs Merstham had matched the visitors' 75 in that many overs exactly. Bharat Sahani posted his best score of the season of 39.

But, as the sun disappeared behind the clouds, the run-rate slowed and the chances of victory ebbed away. Merstham, however, were determined not to lose - having been nine balls short of a draw last week - and saw out the remaining overs for eight down as dusk pretty much descended. Two more games remain to find the elusive victory - against leaders Banstead (aiming to reverse a last-ball defeat) at The Clearing, or away to mid-table Ashtead in September.