Merstham 143
Old Emanuel 146-4

After their first victory of the season the previous week, Merstham suffered at the hands of Old Emanuel in the Surrey Championship Division Five, losing by six wickets.

After Laurie Nicholson won the toss and batted, Ed Dawson put up a fight, battling for 80 minutes for a tenacious 44 not out.

Will Preston (27) and Gus Locke (25) rallied the hosts from 40-5 to a reasonable total of 143-7.

But Merstham were unable to contain the pace of Old Emanuel’s onslaught and were defeated in 25 overs. Noman Javed took two wickets and there was one for Joe Rees-Davies, a teenager who has progressed through the club to make his first team debut.

The Magics will hope for better luck at unbeaten leaders Old Alleyn next weekend.

The second team bowled out hosts Hampton for 108 just shy of 50 overs, but couldn’t take advantage to win.

Richard Feist’s decision to field looked a good one as Ameer Pasha bowled Harry Copeland with three runs on the board for the first of his 2-12 from 10 overs. He also bowled Robbie Oliver and then Safyan Aslam (2-28) had one caught behind as Hampton were reduced to 28-4.

Imran Aslam, Mohsin Ali and Jack Letts each took two wickets too.

In reply, Ali scored 10 at the top of the order - which was a high point of Merstham’s innings. Top scorer was No 9 bat Pasha with 15 as Merstham struggled against opener Ed Barney (4-29), Phil Linter (2-19) and Rory Blanchard (2-12) and managed only 79 in reply, lasting 30 overs.

The third team started early, arranged with Old Emanuel with the intention of finishing in time to make the Champions League Final. Had it been the right time of year, they could have even caught a traditional 3pm kick-off down at Merstham FC into the bargain, such was the speed of their victory.

Choosing to bowl, skipper James Lowe let Omar Shuja and Callum Letts loose on the bemused visitors, with the pair taking five wickets between them for barely 25 runs. Shuja took 2-15 from five overs and Letts 3-7. Then it was the turn of the teenagers, Anthony Maplesden rattling off 4-14 from six overs and Afsar Khan not taking any wickets but bowling a tight 0-6 from five overs (1 maiden). Extras (20) top scored as Old Emanuel were out for 59 in 20 overs.

Merstham took less than half the number of overs to acquire victory, opener George Chellis notching 33 not out and No 3 Joe Connolly bagging 16 not out.

The fourth XI chose to bat at Cheam, who are running a fourth team for the first time, where they were greeted by a changing room called Rickard's Rest. 

Sadly, much of the top order were out cheaply, Sathya Manuel being best with 11 before succumbing to a straight one from returning young opener Rohan Reganathan (5-18). Bill Ash top scored with 17, including a six on the short boundary behind square leg. But the visitors fell for 86 all out in 38 overs.

Merstham gave themselves a chance by taking a wicket in each of the first two overs, Alvin Sathya having one opener caught by Gopa Nair, whose bowling at the other end forced an offer to Steve Duncan at diving slip that he wasn’t going to turn down.

John Young (2-23) won a leg-before appeal and, with Duncan’s help in the catching department, took a fourth wicket as Merstham briefly gave themselves hope of a bonus point. But Cheam skipper Mohan Elango was simply blasting too many boundaries in between wickets falling around him and notched 55 not out to win the game.

The Sunday sides had better luck. In the Matt Lewis Memorial Shield against Mogador Wanderers, Laurie Nicholson scored 119 before eventually being caught and bowled by Oscar Jago-Lewis (2-29). George Chellis (60) and Will Preston (62) helped Merstham reach 288-5 from 40 overs.

In reply, Ash Bhat scored an unbeaten 119 and W Cooper 83 but the Mogs fell eight runs short of victory with only three wickets down.

Lithon Tarofder also scored an unbeaten century as the Sunday 2nd XI drew a timed game with Banstead 3s, young Finn Harris also scoring 55. Merstham finished on 191-6 while their hosts managed 160-6 in reply.