Merstham’s first XI maintained their four point cushion over third-place Lingfield in the Fuller’s Brewery Surrey County League Premier Division with a 144-run victory over Whiteley Village.

Put into bat by their visitors, Merstham scored 265 from 45.3 overs, building on an opening partnership of 76 by Joe Shinners (29) and Arsalan Abass.

The No 2 batsman went on to score 77 before being caught by Tristan Christie off Dan Roberts (3-69) leaving Merstham at 170-4.

Noman Javed (36), Assam Naeem (33), Ben Baker (29)  and Asif Ali (23) also contributed, with captain Naveed Saeed particularly pleased with the integration of Baker in his second game having been plucked from the third team after joining the club this season to play with friends.

“He kept the innings together and looks so good,” said the skipper. “We’ve got quite a few attacking players but he just stays there and works the ball and builds good partnerships. He and Joe Shinners are probably the best players in terms of technique.”

Whiteley Village seemed determined, from the start of their innings, to battle out the draw and were all out for 121 from 40 overs. Opener Roberts pushed the score along, with 51 but nobody else made 20.

Saeed started with spinner Asif Ali and at one point had three rotating, including Abass who took 3-19 from 7 overs including two maidens.

It was the fifth and six bowlers, however, who did the real damage to remove the visitors. Damien Barnett took 3-22 from 12 overs, including seven maidens, and Suliman Younis 3-31 from nine overs.

"There's still a long way to go this season and plenty to play for," said Saeed, whose team could earn a third straight promotion by finishing first or in their current position of second.

The second team have a 27 point gap at top of the Surrey Championship 2nd XI Division Five after victory at Old Emanuel, who elected to field.

Opener Jason Drewett led the way with 58. Middle order men Manish Patel (39) and Ameer Pasha (45) were the main other contributors in a total of 225-9 from 50.4 overs. Both those batsmen fell to Jawad Butt (4-61 from 15 overs).

Pasha took 6-48 from his 11 overs, including the key wicket of A Khalid who had built a strong 84, as Merstham wrapped up the win in 37 overs. Imran Aslam took the other wicket to be given to a bowler, while fielders Jason Kyte, James Lowe and Neil Maplesden all claimed a run out apiece.

There was a certain sense of excitement surrounding the 3^rd XI on Saturday, who were eager to secure a convincing win against Woodmansterne and avenge last week’s farcical result against Dorking.

With Captain Robson tactically losing the toss, the boys were sent in to bat. The ever fruitful Laurie Nicholson and the in-form Struan Clark took to the wicket and got off to a good start with Nicholson hitting some fantastic boundaries and Clark selflessly looking for the single to put Laurie back on strike.

All was going splendidly after nine overs when Merstham were 51 without loss until ‘Tony the spinner' came onto to bowl. Clark (12) unfortunately fell to a ball that was quickly described by onlookers as the “ball of the century” that ripped more than a tight sweater on the chest of Ben Snelling.

In came the experienced George Chellis who was dismissed for five, but still Nicholson remained solid. All was not lost as the quick hitting Asim Ashraf took to the crease. Countless overs later with the run rate spiking and many a Woodmansterne bowler being dispatched Asim finally goes for a very convincing 43 … but still Nicholson remained solid (at 81 not out).  

Everyone is on the edge of their seats when a ripe Will Preston walks out and cow corner is immediately evacuated. The Woodmansterne attack did everything they could to try to break the partnership, but these efforts were in vain. The two were to see out the rest of the overs out with Laurie carrying his bat and hitting a subline 162 not out and Will Preston with a delicious 58 not out. This left the opposition chasing a monumental 305-3. The innings was a hiding … an annihilation.

With the opposition needing to the throw everything they had at an attempt to win this game at a pretty much unattainable score the Merstham boys took to the attack. The rest of the game was tedious as Woodmansterne, not surprisingly, played for the draw.

Wickets weren’t easy to come by and Captain Robson bowled pretty much everyone in order to pull an attacking shot from the batsman. Calum Letts took 2-11 off 7 overs and Clark took the other with an off cutter. Woodmansterne finished 103-3 and the game finished in a draw as Merstham were "beaten" by the rules of timed cricket.

Man of the match was Laurie Nicholson who set a club league record.

The fourth team came home kicking themselves after defeat at Beddington, whom they asked to bat on the back pitch at Wallington Sports and Social Club.

The hosts had just 22 runs on the board from 11 overs when Marcus Kyte had their opener caught by Hamza Ali. The game looked winnable by the time youngster Joe Rees-Davies (3-26 from 4 including two in his first over) and John Young (3-25 from 6) had taken wickets. Will Prior was also keeping a tight rein on the runs, finishing with a fantastically mean 0-9 from six spin overs.

However, Beddington’s 11th batsman was dropped on coming in at 103-9, then twice more before Kyte returned to bowl him, with the score on 141.

Having lost eight wickets chasing 134 the week before, there were always going to be some nerves in the Mertham ranks, but even so victory looked on at 43-2, especially with one of the Beddington openers giving away several wides in his early overs.

Hamza Ali struck some nice fours in his 18 but the top scorer was Prior, who has shown good form with the bat this season. He struck 32 and ran out of partners as Merstham only managed 108, which - as they might say on Bargain Hunt - could easily have been a winning score.