Surrey Championship Division Five
Old Pauline 240-4
Merstham 241-3

Merstham continued their excellent run of form with a convincing win against promotion rivals Old Pauline.

Old Pauline’s skipper decided to make first use of what seemed to be a good wicket. Merstham were aware of the short boundary on one side and felt confident being asked to chase.

Usual openers Noman Javed (0-42) and Asim Jaffry (0-40) started well, but with both opening batsmen looking solid they struggled to make the early inroads that have become a regular fixture of Merstham bowling performances of late.

The first team on their way to victory

The introduction of seamers George Neal (0-45) and Muhammed Waqas (0-28) restricted the run rate, and whilst the opening pair managed to accumulate 129 before the fall of the first Old Pauline wicket Merstham were now more concerned with restricting the total than looking to bowl the opposition out.

Humayoon Nasir again bowled well (4-60), albeit with some late damage to his figures from the final few overs of aggression from Old Pauline looking to set a sufficient total.

Old Pauline ended up batting into the 53rd over, and left Merstham 47 overs to attempt to chase the 242 required for their fifth win in six league games.

Merstham’s initial thoughts on the pitch had been vindicated, and combined with a rapid outfield and the short boundary they were feeling confident that 242 was achievable.

Openers Jason Kyte (17) and Andy Rivers (34) put on 45 for the first wicket, and enabled George Neal (58) and Ben Baker (83 not out) to continue to accumulate after they we dismissed.

Merstham reached the second drinks break with over 120 needed from the remaining 17 overs. What followed was an excellent display of attacking batting, firstly from the impressive Neal and, following his departure, from the returning Baker who oozed class with some lofted drives and long hits over the sight screen. Noman Javed (36 not out) continued the momentum with his brisk 21-ball knock, dispatching some trademark drives over long-on.

It was Baker though who stole the show and rightfully finished the game off with a huge six over deep midwicket to win with 4.3 overs to spare.

“This was by far our best all-round performance so far, and I’m so pleased with how we approached the run chase,” said skipper Laurie Nicholson.  “Whilst we need a few results to go our way, we now have a very decent chance of pushing the top three teams right till the end of the season.”

The second XI slipped into the relegation zone in the Surrey Championship Division Four, with a narrow defeat at home to Ripley, who moved above them by one point.

Put in to bat, the Magics made a decent start before losing two wickets with 30 on the board. Then Jason Drewett (36) and Mohsin Ali (35) put on 69 for the third wicket before opener Drewett was caught. The hosts then lost four wickets on 150, starting with Jack Letts (23), all to Matthew Cliffe (4-34) taking all four wickets in his fourth over.

Richard Feist (31 not out) and last man Mark Beckford (18 not out) put on 38 before captain Feist declared on 188-9 after 52 overs.

After tea, Merstham’s opening bowlers made a great start in the reply, Bobby Sharp and Imran Aslam both taking a wicket as Ripley were reduced to 4-2. George Greaves (74) and Josh Thomas (25) then put on 102 partnership to frustrate the hosts, before Mohsin Ali (2-48) eventually took both wickets.

Sunny Bowry snaffled 3-36 from his 13 overs and Mark Beckford took two as Merstham took wickets regularly, but Ripley survived nine down to reach their target in the 45th over.

The third team endured a whirlwind tour of the Cricket for Change Centre in Wallington, opting to bat against unbeaten league leaders Purley.

Deciding to bat, Merstham found the pace and slightly variable bounce on a barren pitch too hot to handle, with the youngest member of the team Alvin Sathey top scoring on 14. Captain Ben Carter had also found a couple of boundaries but Merstham were all out for 53.

It could have been that 100 might have been a competitive total, because the visitors mustered four wickets in reply, Omar Shuja’s whipped seam movement accounting for two, while Anthony Maplesden had two players caught, one by wicketkeeper Prassana Kumar and another by Imran Rashid while he was still making his way back from the boundary.

The third team clearly called up the wrong fourth team batsmen, because the fours took revenge for an opening day mauling against Dorking with a comprehensive nine wicket win against their opponents.

Merstham decided to field and their bowlers did them proud. New recruit Muhammed Imran took 5-10 from eight overs while Anand Pratap made his first appearance of the season and took 1-9 from two overs. Captain Gopa Nair did even better, taking 1-2 in two overs. Bill Ash took 2-4 including a caught and bowled, while Michael Pitcher only bowled four balls - the fourth resulting in a caught and bowled to finish the innings as the visitors finished on 107 from 32.4 overs.

Merstham lost Kashif Noon early, but fellow opener Dilhan Jayamanne controlled his attacking instincts to put together a patient 49 no out while Will Prior alongside him made 51 not out to frustrate the visitors and win by nine wickets.