Surrey Championship Division Five
Merstham 238
Maori Oxshott 239-5

Five dropped catches went much of the way to being the difference between winning and defeat for interim captain Andy Rivers as Merstham lost by five wickets on Saturday at Moari Oxshott, who are second in the division.

On a really good track and a fast outfield, Merstham lost the toss and were asked to bat against what Rivers described as the fastest pace attack in the division and were reduced to 63-4.

“You could see us getting bowled out for 100 unless something happened,” mused the new skipper. “Assad [Naeem] came in and batted very well for 47 and was only out to an outstanding one-handed catch.”

He wasn’t the only one to make his mark. Ben Baker had been bowled for 31 before his former Reigate Grammar School colleague Robin Hardman, who had not played first team cricket before, came in and rapidly put together a hard-hitting 45. Having played in the third team in the past few weeks, Hardman has followed former school mates from the threes to the first team swiftly. Baker and Laurie Nicholson made the rapid rise last season.

Razi Khan finished on 42 not out as Merstham moved from 178-8 to 238 all out after 51.4 overs.

“We said we wanted to bat for 55 overs, which had been a challenge this season,” said Rivers.

The reply in the field began very well, with Oxshott reduced to 5-2, Noman Javed bowling one opener and Assad Naeem having the other caught by Rivers. The run rate ticked along to Oxshott needing 6.5 an over to win, but Merstham partly had themselves to blame for not taking wickets.

“One of their guys scored 75 and was dropped three times,” reflected Rivers. “Dropping five catches might or might not have made the difference, but you have to put yourself in a position to win.

“The ground had small boundaries and we didn’t take the fifth wicket until the last five overs. It was a good game to be involved in. Both teams enjoyed it and it could have gone either way until the last half hour.”  

The hosts knocked off the runs in 45.2 overs and the result leaves Merstham eighth, 43 points above the relegation places – a factor Rivers hopes will be sufficient to keep the team in the division as they build for next season after Naveed Saeed stepped down as captain last Monday.

The second team, who asked Chessington to bat at Quality Street, were set a target of 180 to win after bowling out their opponents in 51.3 overs.

Radhul Madhok eventually got the breakthrough on his way to 5-29 in 11 overs, the No 4 bowler accounting for both openers in the end. Ameer Pasha returned tight figures of 0-17 from 6.5 overs before suffering an injury. Nazir took three late wickets to dismiss the visitors.

Unfortunately Merstham’s batting let them down against a strong opening attack of Jack Strange (4-19) and Stewart Hill (2-31), plus Conor McElligot (2-22) who ensured that Merstham were all out for 90 in 33.3 overs. Captain Richard Feist, batting at No 9, top scored with 22.

The third team were the only winners from the Saturday sides, defeating Wallington who chose to bat on their own surface and scored 194-9.

Simon Griffin took 3-55 from 12 overs opening the bowling while Asim Ashraf took 2-25 from 11.5 overs. Avinash Malhotra acquitted himself well with 2-39 from eight overs, including having one of the opening batsman stumped a run short of his 50.

The hosts were all out for 49.5 overs. Opener Shakir Khan did most of the damage in the reply, putting together 81 while others were losing their wickets all around him. Only Ashraf (26) of the other top seven passed 10, but wicketkeeper Neil Maplesden finished on 15 not out, with Malhotra on 14 not out, to steer home the visitors after 45 overs, eight wickets down. No 9 Griffin (12) was the only other to contributed double figures.

For the fourth team, wicketkeeper Rob Wood had another game with no byes (only leg byes) counting against him, but Merstham came up against two quality batsman playing for Wimbledon’s 5^th team and suffered defeat by 96 runs.

Josh Tallent (55) and Peter Bendixen (42) were slowed down by the drizzle before the latter was caught by Wood off young pace bowler Afsar Khan (2-29 from seven) on the team’s way to 204-7. Wood also stumped another batsman as he went after spinner Matt Lehain, another youngster who took 2-29, having the other opener caught by Prasannar Kumar. The visitors to the Ring pushed on from 150, which might have been a reasonable target to chase. Returning opening bowler Tony Rickards was eventually rewarded with 2-48 when tricky left-arm paceman Ben Carter had to make do with just one victim (1-48 from 13 overs). John Young restored confidence despite no wickets, 0-27 off 5 overs.

Merstham’s reply began badly when Kashif Noon was caught by a very close fielder. Against the strong pace of Kane Lawrence, Kumar (15) was surprised to be bowled by one that cut in, having looked to have covered his stumps.  

Ben Carter came and went all too quickly for 25, putting on 37 with Ian Lamont before slashing three chances skyward and his luck running out. Lamont, who had offered the fielders plenty of chances, tempted lady luck one too many times by trying to drive a straight ball from the young spinner Pranav Pandey and was clean bowled, a couple of overs after drinks. By then, 79-3, wickets were tumbling all too swiftly. Wood held on for 10 runs and Khan made 13 as the tail wagged a little while trying to save the draw. But it wasn’t to be as Merstham were all out with six possible overs remaining on 108. 

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