Merstham 198-7
Guildford 89
Surrey Championship Division Five

The 1st XI gained their first win of the season with a strong all round performance away at Guildford City.

Having won the toss and elected to bat, captain Laurie Nicholson (16) and fellow opener Andy Rivers (62) set off in watchful fashion before Nicholson was bowled in the 10th over. 

A string of LBWs then saw for a steady fall of Merstham wickets  with batsman Pervaiz (10), Javed (17), and Baker (8) all making starts. 

With the score falling to 121-6 Merstham were in danger of squandering a much more assured batting performance than previously seen this season.

Rivers remained steadfast throughout, and held the innings together. He was joined by Locke (37) with about 10 overs to go at a pivotal stage of the innings, and a combination of Rivers’s grit and Locke’s powerful stroke play clawed Merstham up to a respectable total of 198-7 off their allotted 50 overs. 

Merstham’s attempt at defending started with a few expensive overs to the Guildford openers, who were clearly looking to bat positively.  

The ever reliable Javed (4-36), last season's player of the year, was able to take the vital wickets at the top of the order to settle Merstham's nerves and allow the rest of the attack to exploit the Guildford middle order. Fellow opener Locke took 1-20 off six overs with two maidens, removing one of the Guildford openers for 13.

Asim Jaffri (1-21) bowled a hostile spell, regularly proving too quick for the batsman. David Neal (0-20) also caused the batsman problems throughout his spell and provided control from the other end.

But it was newcomer Muhammed Waqas (4-7) whose seam bowling sealed the win with another outstanding spell, carrying on his impressive start to his debut season at the club.

Waqas wrapped up the game with Merstham bowling out Guildford City to win by 89 runs.

A good all round performance, and plenty of positives to take into next week at home to Emmanuel.

As the first team headed back to Quality Street to celebrate, they couldn’t quite make it back in time to witness a close game in which the second team narrowly lost to Cheam.

Richard Feist’s side fell just 15 short of victory, having bowled out Cheam for 169 in 41 overs.

With five wickets remaining, they needed 61 to win from the final 15 overs, but that promising situation turned into needing 25 runs from six overs with only two wickets left.

It looked like No 5 bat Manish Patel could steer them to victory, but he was finally bowled for 61 by returning opener Niall McManus (2-29) to leave Merstham 149-9. It was all over when Imran Aslam was caught and bowled by Usman Mehmood (1-20).

Earlier, having asked the visitors to bat, Merstham had reduced Cheam to 89-7. Struan Clark got the first, with a caught and bowled, before mopping up the tail on his way to 3-33.

Meanwhile Aslam, who bowled tightly for 1-15 from 10 overs, and Ameer Pasha (4-38 from 10) restricted the visitors in the first half of the innings, before Joel Bastable (55 not out) and Jonathan Coward (36) put on 70 for the eighth wicket, which ultimately steered Cheam to a total they defended.

The third team, asked to bat at Wallington, knocked up 177 but were all out in 36.3 of a possible 50 overs, Arham Ali striking a superb 70.

Unlike England, however, the third team can overcome Geoffrey Boycott type worries about not batting through their allotted overs, thus reducing opportunities to score runs.

A young Merstham attack ripped through their stunning opponents, dismissing them for just 44 in 19 overs, with four of the top six batsmen failing to score.

Teenager Joe Rees-Davies bagged 2-13 from six overs, Callum Letts 3-16 from six including one caught by Bobby Sharp who himself returned mean figures of 2-4 from four overs. Ben Carter (1-7 from three) had the satisfaction of the innings’ only caught and bowled as compensation for being the only one of the bowling quartet not to register a maiden.

George Chellis took two catches, with keeper Rob Wood taking another.

The fourth team were handed victory by Oxted and Limpsfield, who were unable to rustle up a 5th team.

On Sunday, Nicholson and Chellis (another low scorer at Guildford) had better luck at Quality Street in the Sunday 1s/Development team in a friendly against Sanderstead (picture below, courtesy Harry David).

Nicholson knocked up 49 alongside fellow opener Chellis’s 69 as the hosts bagged 223-6 in 40 overs, with Matt Hill also striking 51.

Sanderstead also found batsmen in form and the run going good, with Johann Branch accumulating 109 before being stumped by Will Preston off Ben Snelling. The latter also picked up the wicket of George Jackson, caught Preston, for 55 to finish on 2-40 but the visitors fell short on 213-4.

The Sunday seconds didn't have such success, with their young team at a strong Mynthurst side.

Having asked the hosts to bat, they found wickets hard to come by as Mynthurst clocked up 250-2, with one batsman scoring 90, another 81 and a third 64. Joe Connolly (1-34) had an early success, while late order bowler Michael Pitcher (1-31) took the other wicket.

In reply, the youngsters showed the adults how to do it, opener Byron Kenny starting well with 18, Alvin Sathya, after some fantastic fielding and bowling, showing much promise with the bat too, scoring eight and Joe Connolly accumulating 20.

Ben Lehain, a late replacement for injured brother Matt, struck a couple of delightful shots including a delicious sweep for four on his way to 10, while wicketkeeper Tom Kenny (10 not out) complained bitterly about his arthritic knees when one young partner made him run a two. Another teen, Asfar Khan, bagged a quickfire 10, then Pitcher rounded up the innings with a couple of boundaries before being last man out with the team all gone for 93.