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Unbeaten Fuller’s League Division One leaders Merstham made slightly heavy weather of beating Thames Ditton, who were the second opponents in a row to have a batsman score a century against them. 

A rain interruption midway through the visitors’ innings changed the pitch just as knocks by Joe Shinners (84) and Andy Rivers (61) looked to have been putting Merstham towards a commanding victory.

However, the damp wicket after the rain resulted in balls shooting through, and the loss cheaply of Arsalan Abass and Ed Dawson gave the hosts’ supporters - boosted by the second team who had won by tea time for the second week running - some nervous moments.

Tharusha Tilakarathne (15 not out) and Wasil Mohar (6 not out) eventually put Merstham over the winning line with three overs left, for the loss of six wickets.

Merstham’s captain Nav Saeed had stepped down to the second team to refresh his batting skills, having rarely wielded the willow this season, and because he believed that the team had enough leaders to win.

He returned to Quality Street at tea time, having scored 37 not out to help win the second team game, to find that Ditton’s Mike Dixon has notched 107 and the visitors had been allowed to rack up 222 from their 47.1 overs.

“The team skippers itself, but I wasn’t happy that the opposition had scored 222. It was a big score and we should never have let that number of runs slip, so it is something I shall look to rectify when I return next week,” said Saeed.

Number four bat Dixon came in with the score on 62-2 and upped the tempo, striking lusty blows against third and fourth bowlers against Asim Jafferi (3-61) and Tilakarathne (1-43) and putting on 67 for the third wicket with Jamie Pemberton (28).

Arsalan Abass, bowling off-spin, took three wickets late in the innings for 27 off six overs as the visitors were dismissed in the 48th over.

Next Saturday, Merstham travel to Chaldon, who were the last side to beat them, last summer when they also won promotion.

Saeed opened the batting for the second team, who also lead their division, scoring an unbeaten 37 as they chased down a target of 65 to beat bottom side Old Tiffinians, taking 10 overs to do so. Liam Powell notched 19 as Merstham won by eight wickets.

Earlier, only the opener Saad Khan made double figures, before being caught by club captain Richard Feist off Chat Ranawaka for 35.

The hosts were all out after 19.5 overs with Suliman Younis taking 3-7 off 7, Imran Khan 3-12 off 4 and Safyan Aslam 1-20 off six.

The third team travelled to Chipstead, Coulsdon and Walcountians on a rather grey afternoon for what turned out to be a quite intriguing game, writes Jon Coleman.

After losing the toss, Merstham were asked to bat first. After losing an early wicket, Ben Carter, with 25, began to steady the ship on a pitch that looked difficult to get in on. However, wickets kept falling at regular intervals, helped by some dubious umpiring decisions, which kept Merstham from being able to take control.

Things were looking difficult at 51-6, but a flashy cameo of 18 from Jack Letts added some respect to the total. The situation looked worse at 78-8 and it looked as if the game could be ending in a low scoring contest, but there was a sting in the tail.

After some lusty blows from Marcus Kyte gave some impetus, Jon Coleman (with 81 not out, his best score since joining Merstham this season), ably abetted by Duncan Carter (with 20 not out) launched a counter attack that swung the game firmly in Merstham's favour with an unbroken 10th wicket partnership of 103 (editor's note: this must be a record), demoralising the opposition and leaving captain Mark Robson able to declare on 201-9 after 49 overs.

The momentum was carried forward into the bowling. An early wicket with a hostile bouncer from Justin David, a brilliant take down the leg-side from Rory Crouch, set the tone and no Chipstead batsman was allowed to settle.

After a stump-rearranging yorker from Coleman removed the other opener, David took command by holding up one end throughout, taking six wickets, including one with off spin, with Jack Letts taking the catch at short backward square. Kyte bowled a testing spell, including removing the dangerous Paul Flower, who showed a flashing blade, caught at gully.

However the skies became gloomy, but the arrival of Jack Letts did not slow the flow of wickets, with a catch well taken by Robson in the slips. With two wickets to take, the rains soon came, and due to standing water on parts of the outfield, an hour of play was lost, much to the chagrin of the Merstham team keen to finish the job.

The overs were revised to 6.3 overs for Merstham to take the final two wickets. With no drive to score runs at this point, Chipstead went defensive and although David sneaked a wicket with a full, straight delivery that bowled Jim Orr, the sandbagged Chipstead defence held and the thirds came away with a winning draw, with the hosts on 116-9.

The third team remain top of their division, as do the tryers of the fourth XI, who were left frustrated when Ashstead conceded on Thursday. Those whose wives and girlfriends didn't find them something else to fill Saturday afternoon had an extended net session at the Tony Rickards cricket academy, while monitoring the progress of the first team and congratulating the second team on their early victory.

In the "glamour tie" of the weekend, the Merstham Sunday XI entertained the mighty Hook and Southborough at Quality Street, writes Bobby Sharp.

Merstham were put into bat, and the new ball was handed to the home side's very own Joe Rees-Davies, who was playing for the opposition.  Despite his strong opening spell, the Magics started positively, with Kashif Noon (64), Jason Kyte (20), and Jack Letts (45) attacking the bowling, leaving Merstham well poised at 103-1 at the half-way point. 

A mini middle-order collapse threatened to derail the innings, but James Lowe (27) counterattacked brilliantly, and captain Bobby Sharp (49*) ran himself into the ground, turning several 1s into 3s.  Merstham eventually finished their 40 overs on 237-6.

The Hook and Southborough reply got off to a strong start, despite early wickets for Callum Letts (2-36) and Tony Rickards (1-34).  However, the game slowly turned back in Merstham's favour, thanks to some miserly medium pace from Thomas Kenny (3-43), and a brilliant spell of bowling from Adam Mell (3-20). 

The visitors were helped by some big shots from Rob Milton (40), and some outrageous cheating from Rees-Davies, who had clearly grown far too big for his boots.  However, chasing such a high target was always going to prove tough, and Merstham triumphed in the 37th over, with the visitors still 56 runs adrift.  A great result for the Magics, who have now extended their unbeaten run on Sundays to one game.

The editor welcomes the contributions from two new sources this week and looks forward to hearing about more glorious escapes throughout the summer. Pictures also welcome.