Merrow 205
Merstham 98

Surrey Championship Division Five

Merstham suffered a heavy defeat in what turned out to be Naveed Saeed’s last game as skipper, who stood down on Monday saying he had taken the team as far as he could after five years in charge.

“I think the team needs a bit of a new voice and direction and I now give it to someone younger,” said Saeed, whose side have earned three consecutive league titles in the Fuller’s League and reached the Surrey Championship for the first time in the club’s 153 year history.

“I think the team has almost enough points to stay up - they probably need one more win - and that gives someone a chance to come in and use the rest of the season to shape things for next season.”

Saeed said he had been considering the decision for a few weeks.

A heavy defeat wouldn’t have been the ideal way to sign off, but that’s what happened despite Merstham bowling out their visitors Merrow for 205 at Quality Street.

Noman Javed had George Trueman (21) caught by Saeed with the score on 30, but Merrow put on 68 for the second wicket before Razi Khan (2-72) took the first of his wickets. His second came at 134-3, Daniel Lee caught and bowled for a top score 59, prompting a mini collapse and a steady flow of wickets.

Radhul Madhok bowled very well to return figures of 4-42 and Javed (3-26) helped wrap up the tail as the visitors were all out in the 52nd over.

In reply, Merstham’s top four were all caught by captain and keeper Andrew Keeble. They lost their first three wickets with the score not shifting from 10. Of those four, Javed top scored with 20. Only Javed, Will Preston (11), Razi Khan (17) and Radhul Madhok (32) scored in double figures.

“We bowled well in patches,” reflected Saeed. “But unfortunately chasing a total has been a big problem all season.”

With several players called up to the first team and other absentees, the second team were themselves depleted of several regulars and were all out for 89, lasting 41 overs at Ripley, having been asked to bat.

Ashar Syed and Finn Harris equal top scored with 20 and Ameer Pasha notched 17.

In reply, Ripley had 50 runs on the board before James Lowe claimed the first wicket, John Grimsdale caught and bowled for just nine. The other opener, wicketkeeper and captain Sam Woods, was knocking up the runs. He finished with 52. He was the third wicket to fall, caught by Lowe off Ashar Syed.

That gave Lowe (2-15 from six overs) a hand in all three wickets to fall, as he had already had Toby Baddock caught for 11. It was not enough though as Ripley claimed a seven-wicket victory in 18 overs.

The 3rd XI took on Addiscombe at the Ring on Saturday and after losing the toss they were keen to avoid another frustrating draw, writes Ben Snelling. 

After much deliberation, Rory Crouch and Struan Clark were sent in to bat with specific orders to bat the overs and put the away team under some much needed pressure. Unfortunately, Clark (8) and Crouch (8) weren't listening and were too busy befriending the opposition which led to them both giving the wicketkeeper and mid-off some regulation catching practise.

The ever stable Zeeshan Murtaza and Mohsin Ali took to the crease and put on a lucrative partnership playing some extremely sensible shots while hitting the bad balls and maintaining a rewarding run rate. Ali was next to go after a delectable 36 and made way for Asim Asraf who finally decided to show up.

Asraf played his usual aesthetically pleasing shots but failed to get going and was bowled for 12. In stepped the fan favourite Robin Hardman who has just joined MCC on a free transfer the previous week and was eager to get off to a strong start. His league debut was short lived after a six, single, four, single, two, wicket were his six deliveries.

While all these wickets were falling Murtaza remained calm and collected at the crease and was just looking for a partner who could stop the rot. Cue the newly slim lined Ben Snelling. Murtaza and Snelling make the most of the quick outfield and snatch speedy singles with some impressively smart calling that even had the opposition baffled. Murtaza went for a majestic 75 while Snelling (25*)  and Omer Shuja (14*) kept batting until skipper Murtaza declared for 243-7. 

After tea the skipper asked for wickets and wickets is what the skipper got. Shuja and Jon Coleman opened the bowling and had the batsman pinned before Shuja got the breakthrough. A constant bombardment from the opening pair saw the Addiscombe top order disappear. Shuja particularly impressing with four wickets for 34 runs off 13 overs.

Poor Shuja was deprived of a 5-fer due to some questionable fielding at mid-on. Coleman's figures were equally as impressive with two wickets off 13 overs for 26 runs. From then on the Addiscombe middle order dug in and Merstham took their foot off the accelerator  and let them stick around while the runs slowly added up.

This was until the "Freddie Flintoff" of Merstham, Robin Hardman came into the attack while the ever consistent Clark bowled at the other end. Play was briefly interrupted due to over eager fielding by the home team but this didn't change the inevitable.

Merstham went on to bowl Addiscombe out for 176 with Clark taking 2-30 off 8 and Ali joining the party at the end. 

A new star is often born in the fourth team, even if the emergence does not always result in victory. This time it was young U15 player Asfar Khan making his senior debut, his steaming pace bowling rewarded with 3-41.

Sadly, it was not enough to save Merstham from defeat at Addiscombe, but one thing that can be said for the fours these days is that they strain every sinew in search of victories, because unlikely ones have been created seemingly out of nothing.

This time they took six wickets while attempting, valiantly, to defend 151 on a batting paradise.

Skipper Gopa Nair opted to bat. Kashif Noon cracked some nice shots before being adjudged leg-before. Then John Young was run out trying to push an early single.

Another debut maker, Prasanna Kumar, was building a comfortable partnership with keeper Rob Wood before being caught off Jack Southwell’s bowling for 24.

Wood put his winter training to good use with a patient innings, not for the first time this season. He punished loose balls and blocked what he had to. But he was another lbw victim, to a whirling dervish bowler, for a thoroughly noteworthy 26. Wood had encouraged Ian Lamont to strike out and, rising to the advice of smashing the ball back over the bowler, the latter also took advantage of some short, slower bowling to hit some leg side boundaries, while practising his off-side drives wherever possible in an attempt to muster every last run out of the allowed overs.

In the process he managed to run out Tony Rickards, in a situation that would have been comic if it hadn't seemed so tragic. Rickards drove the ball almost straight at Lamont, who tried to jump out of the way only for it to hit his inner ankle, deflecting it to a fielder. By that time Rickards was three quarters of the way down the track and couldn't turn back. Unfortunately, a ball that had been destined for a four ended up beating poor Rickards to the crease.

Young Afsar Khan saw the urgency in the situation and smacked six runs before being clean bowled trying to belt another delivery, before fellow youngster Matt Greaves (8 not out) helped push the score to 151 as Lamont matched his best ever innings of 37 not out.

As Merstham began their task of dismantling Addiscombe, Rickards applied himself to the task, gaining a leg-before decision in his fourth and fifth overs. Combined with Khan crashing through the defence of another player, this gave Merstham three wickets in their first 12 overs. It was a wicket maiden for the youngster, who took a total of four maidens in his first spell.

Unfortunately, some loose bowling elsewhere allowed Southwell to crack some sixes into nearby gardens and notch up 56 before Khan crashed through his guard, to give Merstham hope.

Just before that, Merstham showed plenty of swashbuckling determination. Stephen Prior took it as a personal challenge to prevent a four on the short boundary, slid across the field and pushed the ball to Noon who threw it back to bowler Rickards and claimed a run out while a cheeky second run was being sought. Khan was to claim one more wicket, a leg-before, but Addiscombe claimed victory in 32 overs.

* Picture by Chris Lowe

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