Merstham firsts suffered a seven wicket defeat in the Surrey Championship Division Five on Saturday, despite a great opening partnership with the bat.

Travelling to Kempton, the Magics lost the toss and were asked to bat, something Joe Shinners (31) and Jason Kyte (29) seemed to relish by putting on 59 for the first wicket before Shinners was caught.

Kyte and Ben Baker both fell with the score on 76, before Assad Naeem was caught and bowled to leave the visitors 85-4.

A sterling partnership of 42 between Noman Javed (37) and Laurie Nicholson (21) proved just a mid-innings rally on the way to a sluggish total of 162 in 51.4 overs in exhausting heat – with three players feeling the effects of Ramadan. Andy Ward took 4-44 from 12.4 overs for the hosts.

In reply, Merstham were reeling when opener Rohan Scott (30) struck some early boundaries but Kempton were 42-2 after he and fellow opener Gurjeet Singh (9) were dismissed. Noman Javed (1-28) had Scott caught by captain Nav Saeed, while Javed caught Singh off Razi Khan (1-52).

However, Andy Ward (77 not out) and Alex Dillon (37, run out) took the game away from Merstham to get Kempton over the line in the 37^th over.

“We just never looked in it,” said Saeed, who team have lost four players from last season’s Fuller’s League Championship winning side. “The whole body language wasn’t right in the heat.”

The second team suffered a huge defeat, having opted to bat at Quality Street. Manish Patel top scored with 17 as Jason Drewett’s men were skittled out for 40, Imran Aslam (12) the only other player to reach double figures in the team’s 25.3 overs. The top order was decimated by Ahsan Saleem’s 5-26 from 10 overs.

Ashar Syed claimed the only wicket in response as the hosts suffered a nine wicket defeat.

Once again the third team drew, unable to take the final couple of wickets, this time at Mitcham having scored 272-6.

Having opted to bat, Rory Crouch, returning from university, set about the task well with 41 (including eight fours). Asim Ashraf (74) and Zeeshan Murtaza (36) put on 68 for the third wicket before skipper Murtaza was bowled with the score 136-3. Ashraf was joined at the crease by Struan Clark and the pair’s partnership lasted for 106 before Ashraf was bowled. Clark finished on 62 not out.

The response started in dramatic fashion, with Jon Coleman taking two very early wickets and finishing on 4-43 from 10 overs. Sadly the scorecard kept ticking up to give Mitcham an incentive, but wickets seemed to keep falling too, once Kamal Ahmed (1-11) and Mohsin Ali (2-31) were put into the attack.

Unfortunately, after 53 overs, Mitcham were only eight wickets down (with 180 runs on the board) and had survived for a draw.

By contrast, the fourth team did manage to win – taking a third victory from six matches played this season in a game against Beddington largely watched by club captain Richard Feist whose game had finished early.

After Gopa Nair consulted his team and decided to bat, Ian Lamont showed he was in no mood for an early finish, resisting too many risks in a curmudgeonly 33, but always happy to run the extras (which totalled 47). He enjoyed an early partnership of 42 with Will Prior before the latter misjudged a single call and was run out.

With John Young well set, Lamont was eventually out on 112-4 after 33 overs, despite bowler Tony Peers’ best efforts to drop him by crashing into a fellow fielder when neither of them called for the ball.

Young went on to strike 45, with an assault on Beddington’s attack rarely seen before at The Ring. Skipping down the wicket to different bowlers, Young pushed the singles and found some boundaries, keeping partner Rob Wood on his toes. The Merstham wicketkeeper, suffering in the heat, nonetheless put together his best Saturday score in many a year, notching 32, demonstrating that all his winter practice had been worth the effort.

Eventually, with the skipper demanding 200 from the sidelines, Young was stumped, just before the close of the innings on 190-5 after 46.5 overs. It was a fourth team best score on Earlswood Common.

Partially revived by his wife’s tea, Wood wasn’t sure if he’d last the whole innings behind the stumps. But with Prior on standby Wood soon found his strength thanks to three early wickets, as Beddington found themselves 24-3 from 13 overs. Tony Rickards had two of them and finished with 3-26, five maidens, from 12 overs, while teenager Jamie Harrison had the other, caught Prior, on his way to 2-24.

Lamont, buzzing after his runs and two catches – one in the slips off the spin of Dilhan Jayamanne, the other off John Young – took a diving shy at the stumps when a cheeky single was attempted and watched as the pegs splayed, to remove Beddington’s top scorer for 32.

Wickets kept falling and the visitors were nowhere near the required run rate, despite 12 off one over by skipper David Floyd, batting No 9, who must have been hugely frustrated when one of his partners swiped at a half chance and was stumped, rather than trying to see out the draw.

Eager teen Matt Lehain – having already played a school match that morning – bamboozled batsmen with his spin and bowled for the stumping (1-13, 2 maidens, from 6). Young finished with an equally tight 1-11 from 5 before taking the final catch off the third teen, Hamza Ali (1-18 off 5.1). Beddington had almost survived, but were 119 all out 3 overs short of a draw.