Merstham 239-5
Deando Ruxley 116
Fuller’s Brewery Surrey County League Division One

An unbeaten century by Arsalan Abass helped Merstham put their second successive title bid back on track, as they defeated lowly placed Deando Ruxley by 123 runs.

Captain Naveed Saeed chose to bat against Deando at Quality Street, looking for an improved batting performance after a four-game losing streak.

Opener Abass obliged, scoring a chanceless century and finishing on 113 not out. The best support he was given during the innings was 55 for a second week by Tharusha Tilakarathne as the hosts finished their 45 overs on 239-5.

Spinner Tilakarathne then did most of the damage with a stunning 5-8 off 5.4 overs as Merstham bowled extremely tightly to dismiss their opponents in the 35^th over. The other wickets were shared including 2-21 off 5 by Chat Ranawaka, who stepped up from the second XI.

Tilakarathne bowled opener Philip Woolston, who offered Deando’s main resistance with 58, and had three others caught, including two by Abass, as Merstham’s ability to take convincing victories returned.

“We dropped their main batsman a couple of times,” bemoaned Saeed. “Tharusha bowled him when he tried to accelerate the scoring. It was a good all-round performance.

“Man of the match was Arsalan but it was a very close call between him and Tharusha, who is a good batsman coming in at six or seven, as well as a great bowler.”

Merstham, on 243 points, top the table from West End Esher (214) who hold the second promotion place after defeating third placed Frimley (209), meaning Merstham need two wins from three remaining games to secure the first division title, having won division two last season.  

The second team, who had 10 men, not only won handsomely at Byfleet but also secured promotion to the Surrey Championship in the process.

With three league games left, the Fuller’s League 2^nd XI leaders will now be looking to hold on to their lead over Staines & Laleham, which is currently just seven points, to secure the title.

Winning the toss, Merstham invited Byfleet to bat and bowled them out for 139. They then knocked over the total in 28.5 overs, Jason Drewett with 48 and Marvin Beckford with 31, both falling with the score on 84. Jason Kyte (15no) and Liam Powell (41no) then steered Merstham over the winning line with no further loss of wickets.

On a challenging week with many players unavailable throughout the club, the third XI, whose numbers were reduced to eight, lost the momentum http://surreychampionship.play-cricket.com/website/websites/view_division?id=58685 in the Ryman League East Division title race and were defeated by second placed Addiscombe, who now have a 40-point lead over them, behind leaders SinjunGrammarians a point above that.

Hosts Addiscombe chose to field and Merstham opener Asim Ashraf (10) and middle order batsman Sean Kenny, the wicketkeeper (who scored 17), were the only players to make double figures in a total of 64 off 20.3 overs, with Sean’s brother Craig 5 not out at the close.

Jon Coleman (1-9 and 2 maidens from four overs) took the only wicket (caught Sean Kenny) as Addiscombe knocked off the runs in the 15^th over. Craig Kenny returned 0-1 and two maidens off three overs.

The fourth team, also depleted, slipped to fourth in what is a very tight Ryman Championship East Division, as they lie just 18 points off joint leaders Battersea Ironsides and Oxted & Limpsfield, with Ashtead right behind that pair.

With eight players to start the match against Addiscombe, they chose to bat, knowing that two reinforcements were on their way, one coming from overseas.

Kashif Noon did more than bail out water from the sinking ship until the rescue boats could arrive, piling up 60 sandbags – sorry, runs – including a bucket load of fours in a King Kanute style bid to keep the tide at bay.

Like a few others, Noon was caught off the glove off one that popped up, returning his second best score of the season (66 not out in a memorable defeat of Battersea being the highest), just 10 runs short of 400 for the season from 18 Saturday and Sunday fixtures, taking his tally in the years PlayCricket has been keeping records to 4,084 runs.

Bharat Sahani swiped his way to 30, before late comers Rory Crouch and Duncan Carter threw in cameos of 10 and 18.

Oh, and Michael Pitcher, promoted to 10 in the absence of anyone else (that’s a bit harsh, ed!), put in his bid to open the batting by bagging his highest score ever, 11, to remain undefeated at the close (42.3 overs). This takes his “not out” tally to three this season, one short of his best return of four in 2013,  plus his runs total this year to 31, his best ever, evidence that there is nothing wrong with a winter’s education in Wales. Or is it the fastidious work he does in the nets on his return each year?

Whatever, the fourths took to the field thinking 158 was possibly a defendable score in the win/lose format. Crouch took the wicketkeeper’s gloves having started his journey at 4am, arising to take a boat from his Italian holiday island to the mainland, flying home, jumping in a taxi, collecting his cricket gear and making it to the Ring in time to play a meaningful part.

Victory, by stopping the opposition scoring, looked a possibility as Addiscombe fell behind the run rate, managing a tad under three an over until, with four wickets down, Siddiqque and Imitiaz were paired at the crease.

However, there were several dropped catches (and two good catches by captain Tony Rickards plus another, caught and bowled, by Carter who took 1-19 off 3) as the visitors surpassed the total in the 36^th over. Rickards (1-23 off 9) was the only bowler to take maidens (2) while Joe Rees-Davies was the pick of the youngsters (1-9 off 4).

With the Australians still surprisingly unavailable come Saturday morning, such was the availability crisis that a call was made to Geoffrey Boycott to see if his grandmother was free - you know, the one he regularly recounts could have hit the ball with a stick of rhubarb or celery, depending on which urban myth you are quoting. Sadly, none of his fruit or veg bearing relatives were available.