The annual match between Terry’s Tigers and Garrett’s Gazelles on Merstham Cricket Club’s Open Day ended in a tie on Sunday.

The event combines the ECB/Waitrose-backed national open day and, in Merstham’s case, the chance for former players to either come and spectate or to play alongside members as they all remember cluib stalwarts who have died over the years. These include Terry Garrett and Rosemary Attridge, who both passed away in the winter of 2014-15.  

Terry's Tigers, captained by Rory Crouch, scored 215-4 in their 30 overs in a rain-affected match. The Gazelles, captained by Michael Pitcher, whose side won the game last year, scored 215-8 in 30 overs.

Prior to the match, Rory won the toss and chose to bat first. The captains agreed to have the boundary rope nearest to the trees in close and to have a free hit every time a no-ball was called, to make the match more interesting.

 The match then started with Jawad Riaz and Dilhan Jayamanne opening the batting for the Tigers, against Sunny Bowry and Michael Pitcher opening the bowling for the Gazelles.

Both Jawad and Dilhan got off to very quick starts, scoring highly in the first couple of overs. Then first wicket to fall was Jawad (26), caught by Arsalan Abbas off the bowling of Pitcher which also happened be Michael's 50th wicket. Then Rory came to the crease and continued where Jawad left off, scoring quickly. The next wicket to fall was Dilhan Jayamanne (17), who was clean bowled by Tony Rickards, late of this parish and now resting at Dorking CC.

Then in came Simon Griffin, son of committee member Michael and a former player returning to sample the club once more. Hopefully it won’t be the last occasion he’ll grace the Quality Street pitch.

The duo of Rory and Simon set about scoring quickly and did so, as later Rory had to retire having scored an unbeaten half-century. Then Matthew Lehain contributed runs towards final total with a few good shots, but was the third wicket to fall as he was caught and bowled by Hamza Ali. Alvin came to the crease to join Simon and both scored at will. Simon retired having scored a half-century of his own, which then bought Joe Rees-Davis to the crease. He was soon bowled for one by Bill Ash.

Ali Pervaiz and Alvin proved hard to get rid of, as both players survived till the end of the innings and got the score to 215-4.

Tea was provided – via Waitrose vouchers – by Margaret Garrett, widow of the aforementioned Terry, and Carole Pearce, the club secretary.

After tea, the Gazelles went out to bat with the aim to chase down the 215 scored by the Tigers. Opening the batting for the Gazelles was club captain Nav Saeed and Hamza Ali, while the opening bowlers for the Tigers was Dilhan Jayamanne and Gopakumar Nair.

Like the Tigers to start, Nav and Hamza went about scoring quickly and put vital runs on the board, then a couple of wickets fell quickly, Nav (21) bowled by Dilhan first. Then Michael Pitcher came to the crease. It wasn't long before he was back at clubhouse, as he was caught for two by his opposite captain Rory off the bowling of Gopa.

Conor Arnold and Hamza steadied the ship and put together a solid partnership. Just when the Gazelles seemed like they were scoring quickly again, the third wicket fell as Conor (3) was bowled off the bowling of Matthew Lehain.

Tony Rickards, the next batsman, and Hamza started scoring well and the total started to go up quickly. Tony was trapped lbw off the bowling of Matthew Lehain for four, Matt's second wicket of the game.

The next batsman to join Hamza at the crease was Bill Ash. They put a respectable partnership together and when it looked the Gazelles were starting to pick up pace the fifth wicket fell, Bill (8) bowled by Joe Rees-Davis, which then bought Mark Robson to the crease. Both Hamza and Mark scored at a reasonable pace and Mark at times played dangerously as he was dropped in the field by Simon Griffin, but the next chance the Tigers had it was taken, as the sixth wicket then fell.

Mark (11) was caught behind by Richard Feist off the bowling of Joe. Sunny Bowry joined Hamza at the crease and Hamza was the seventh wicket to fall, ending two runs short of scoring a half-century as he caught by Simon Griffin off Joe for his final wicket (3-40).

Arsalan Abbas then entered the fray with the Gazelles needing just under 100 runs to win, while the Tigers just needed two wickets.

Sunny and Arsalan started scoring quickly and a solid partnership between the two which included some sixes and Arsalan being dropped by Rory Crouch off Simon Griffin got the score to just over 200 runs with four overs left.

When it looked the Gazelles were in pole position to win, the eighth wicket then fell, Sunny caught by Jawad Riaz for 38. Riaz caught the ball in his right hand, while texting on his phone in his left hand. It gave Simon Griffin a wicket.

The Gazelles’ last man, Martin Arnold, set about scoring the winning runs with Arsalan in what was becoming a tense finish.

There was a tense moment when the ball hit Martin on his bat, pads, gloves and helmet grill. Then it went narrowly over the bails and past Richard behind the wicket for a quick single. Not long after, Arsalan then scored a four to make a half-century. Then in the final over the Gazelles needed six to win and the Tigers needed one wicket.

The final over consisted of quick singles between Arsalan and Martin. When it got to the last ball the Gazelles, now 214-8, needed two runs to win. Arsalan was on strike and hit the ball towards mid-on and ran a quick single but when everyone realised the scores where the same, everyone was happy for the match to come to an end.

This meant that the right result was achieved, a fair and worthy tie between the two teams.