Spot the ball: The Saturday fixtures were up in the air throughout, but the Sunday fixture against Old Woking survived. Picture by Harry David

Merstham’s Saturday teams were frustrated by the weather on Saturday. The first and second teams began their matches but the second innings did not reach the 20 overs mark to count for a draw calculation before rain intensified and their respective games had to be abandoned.

Equally, any overnight rain did not leave pitches at The Ring or Lime Meadow Avenue unplayable, meaning the third and fourth teams started their respective matches against Trinity Mid-Whitfigtians.

However, forecasts meant it would always be touch and go as to whether games would last sufficient distances to count as full results.

Anyone looking at the scorecards might have thought that both Merstham teams, who won their tosses and chose to bat, had sent their troops out to bat in reverse order.

The third team mustered 117 all out but in only 38 overs. Only opener Struan Clark (14) of the top six scored in double figures. Omar Shuja then worked his way to 18 at No7. No 9 Matt Hill made 19 not out, while No 10 Farooq Naseer made a welcome return after a few years out to top score with 32 (seven fours). Those two put on 42 for the ninth wicket.

The bowlers managed to restrict Trinity’s scoring to 49 from, crucially, 21 overs, before the rain descended enough to make further action impossible. Asim Ashraf (1-12 from 6) and Shuja (2-22 from 8) had kept the batsmen in check, as did Naseer (0-2 in 2) and Shakir Khan (0-8 from 5).

At Trinity, the fourth team had no such luck with the weather, falling to defeat as the heavens failed to come to their aid.

Playing alongside Trinity’s second team match, the drizzle didn’t prove persistent or heavy enough to cause any delays as Merstham, after a poor start and being 51-7, notched up what eventually looked like a respectable 150. However, this was in 40.3 overs, of a possible 47.

Prassana Kumar struck 18 at No 3, while No 8 Andy Baker (13), who is involved with the coaching of the club’s title winning U9s, and No 9 Neil Maplesden put on a partnership of 46 as Merstham tried to wrestle at least a chance of a draw from the jaws of a heavy defeat - nevermind a heavy downpour!

Maplesden showed plenty of deft touches as he accumulated 43 before cursing the lack of a TV review system when adjudged leg-before.

By the time he was out, Ammar Rashid, batting 10, was well on his way to 33. His first five scoring shots were struck for four and there were two more before he was the last wicket to fall, as Merstham teetered over the exact brink of what was to prove the a single bonus point for batting. Rashid's fine innings was only halted by a fine low catch just off the square as he attempted to driver another four.

After tea, and with the cover on the adjacent pitch off and the Trinity second team game in full flow, Merstham’s young bowling attack faced an intense barrage of blasts from Trinity’s batsmen who were determined to meet the target as quickly as possible. The first ball went for four and that set the tone as their openers, usually middle order batsman, threw the kitchen sink at the task, which was becoming ever more watery from above.

There were a few dropped catches as Trinity's batsmen took risks - and one denied when keeper Kumar was convinced of a nick - but eventually two were taken, one off Jamie Harrison's fine spell of 2-30. Neil Mapleden might have retired from wicketkeeping, but he proved he can catch without the gloves as one came his way out of the drizzle from the sky, with Kumar, whom he had leant his equipment, moving around to mid-on in an attempt to challenge for the catch.

Baker took the other catch off Imran Rashid, while the oddest of wickets came when a batsman tried to take on Tony Rickards only for the ball to catch him in the unmentionables and be carried onto the stumps as he swung around trying to slog it. 

After sawdust was added to the wicket for the bowlers, Trinity got over their target in the 23rd over to take maximum points.

On Sunday, Merstham's first team scored 189-7, a score Old Woking couldn't quite match, accumulating 169-5. 

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