Merstham under-10s dominated all areas of their ESCL league cup semi-final against Oxted & Limpsfield to beat them to reach the final on July 12.

Batting first, Merstham posted 340-7, a score that was never likely to be caught.

Merstham dominated all areas of the game in this crushing victory in the ESCL semi final. Batting 1st MCC posted a score that was never in danger of being caught.

Each pair added runs. Highest pairs were Daniel Kite and Will Broughton scoring 38 and Adam Swan and Will Harrison scoring 34. The ball was in danger of being lost in the undergrowth during the innings as the ball peppered the boundary time and time again.

At the interval, the drizzle stopped and MCC put in a fine performance in the field.

Oxted never went above 217 and for periods in the innings they looked like scoring below the 200 starting point and finished on 203.

The bowling was accurate, reflected in the fact that nine of the 13 wickets to fall were bowled. Although each boy bowled exceptionally well the two highlights were captain Noah Bateman taking 3-1-2-4 and Adam Swan 3-0-11-3.

The final is due to take place on July 12 against Reigate Priory, who managed a last ball victory in the opening match of the season.

The U15s beat Limpsfield Chart on June 10 at Quality Street. The visitors scored 103-6 from 20 overs and Merstham 106-4 from 16.

The Merstham under-11 NEC League team put on their best scoring and fielding performance of the season in defeat to Oxted & Limpsfield.

Merstham fielded exceptionally well only conceding 13 extras; a massive improvement on previous weeks. Matt Lehain produced an outstanding performance as wicketkeeper; four excellently executed stumpings and two perfectly held run-outs from some challenging areas of the ground.

Jude bowled his best of the season so far, gaining two wickets and only giving away 12 runs in two overs. Best bowler goes to Max, gaining two wickets in the last over with two run-outs, giving away a total of six runs.

It was an excellent tight team fielding performance overall which was commented on by the opposition as Oxted finished on 132-10.

There was a slow start on the batting front, even though Merstham knew they had a large target to reach. Matt Lehain had a good innings but got out to an outstanding catch; the best seen by all spectators for this age group. Tristan came in in the middle of the penultimate over to keep us in the game, scoring 15 runs off eight fast balls; a good attacking bat. The best batsman was Luca, who had a fantastic steady bat of 28 as Merstham finished on 118-4.

Merstham under-9 Eagles were beaten by 28 runs by Horley, who scored 296-3 with the Eagles replying with 268-8.

The Eagles took a “moral” victory, scoring more runs but being beaten by conceding more extras and losing more wickets.

This was a great team effort.  Top scorer was Will John-Cox (23), followed by Max Morgan, Daniel Isard and Freddie Stevens.  Will was also the pick of the bowlers taking two wickets, with the other one going to Kai Powell.

Priory Llamas defeated the Eagles by 23 runs at the end of May, scoring 308-1 to the Eagles’ 285-15.

The Eagles won a close game at Lingfield despite missing some of their strongest players, and never looked in real danger of losing.

Merstham scored 293-6.  Flynn McRobbie showed the progress he has made this season with some nice shot making to add to his usual good running in making 18 off 17. Barney Turner made a well deserved 12 off seven balls which made up for the previous week where he hit several lovely shots but straight to the fielder. Alex and Will Carney again combined well with Will in particular hitting some solid blows.

When the Eagles bowled Max Thomas with three overs 4-11 was again too strong for the opposition batsmen and  Barney, Ben Wright, and Joshua Kenney all took a wicket.

Callum showed progress with the ball and Kai with the bat. The overall team performance was again strong and enthusiastic. The team voted Freddie Stevens player of the match for his first showing of the season as Lingfield finished 285-8.