Merstham firsts lose, thirds win easily. Saturday round up

Set a modest total by their visitors, who chose to bat, the Magics ran out of batsmen as they tried to chase 151.

The visitors ran up 65 for the first wicket, then lost two withing a run, with Ali Jaffri's 14 overs conceding a tight 27 runs, but reaping no reward of wickets.

Lithon Tarofder (2-24) took two wickets and fifth bowler Mohsin Ali returned 5-12 in his nine overs as Merstham took seven wickets for the final 20 runs, Ammar Tahir and Humayoon Nazir also taking one too.

Unfortunately Merstham's reply didn't start well. They lost George Chellis (11) at 15-1 and captain Laurie Nicholson (4) to a run out on 19, while Simon Rivers departed a run later.

Four wickets were down when opener Ed Dawson (10) was bowled on 34 as Stefan Kaltner struck the first of his 3-20.

Merstham put on another 55, between Robin Hardman (34) and Will Preston (35) before the first of them was triggered leg before by Dave Morris, who had Preston caught 10 runs later.

The hosts nudged on until Harry Morris (4-36) struck again on 121-7, having Mohsin Ali caught. The final three wickets fell within another eight runs as Merstham were all out for 129.

The second team lost the toss and were asked to bat at Purley, where Nav Saeed (18) and Manish Patel (25) started well enough. Jack Letts contributed 15 batting three, but it was down to Arham Ali (52 not out) to help muster the total of 140 in 50.5 overs.

In reply, Merstham dismissed three of the top order cheaply, Safyam Aslam taking 2-28 from 14 overs.

Zeeshan Murtaza struck twice as well (2-30 off 6.4) while Fergus Carrick (1-19 off six) and Imran Islam also took a wicket each as Merstham took six wickets on their opponents' way to a four-wicket win.

The thirds had far better success, bowling Old Emanuel out for 40 in 17.2 overs and knocking off the runs for the loss of one wicket.

It all started with Afsar Khan's two early wickets in a run of 5-8 from six overs. None of his victims scored a single run. George Corrie did much of the rest to finish off their opponents with 3-2 off 2.2 overs, Callum Letts and James Lowe taking the others.

In reply, Ashar Syed notched 22 and Struan Clark struck 14 as the target was reached in 10.5 overs.

The early overs of the fourth team's match didn't go their way, being 8-4 through a combination of a 13-year-old bowling outswingers and poor shots. Oh and a run out from a direct hit from the boundary when Glen Mollan called a third.

Opener Kashif Noon scored 31 and was ninth man out after a 55 partnership with Alex Reeves, whose no pressure cameo of 35.

Their total of 107 could have been worse, but always looked an unlikely one to defend.

Nevertheless, they did their best to keep things tight and took four wickets in persuading Wimbledon to bat until the 24th over.

Reeves took one wicket while Brennan Calafato took 2-27 while Reeves' bowling also produced the chance for a run out.