Magics fall at Sinjuns: Saturday round-up

Merstham's first team were overtaken in Surrey Championship Division Five by SinjunGrammarians after their hosts set an imposing 280 total and went on to bowl out the Magics and take the win.

Having won the toss and invited their host to bat, Merstham didn't count on Hammad Amir Malik scoring an unbeaten 107.

Humayoon Nazir (3-52) took half of his side's wickets, ending Malik's 89-partnership with AbuBakr Malik at 174-3.

Ali Jaffri, Gus Locke and Simon Rivers also took wickets, but even though the hosts were all out after 47 overs the target looked imposing.

The reply didn't start well, with the early loss of Ed Dawson for ten and the top four with only 53 scored, Robin Hardman making 20. Ben Baker (28) and George Chellis put on 43 for the fifth wicket before the former was caught.

Chellis went on to top score with 69, forming first a 52 partnership with Will Preston (17) as Merstham lost their final five wickets for 35 runs as they tried to hold on for a draw but were all out for 183, Nazir triggered lbw after 49.5 overs.

On a scorching afternoon, the second team also chose to bowl, dismissing Old Emmanuel at Quality Street for 166 in the 42nd over.

Bobby Sharp (2-20) and Safyan Aslam (4-57) took care of the openers and Ben Carter chipped in with 2-39. Imran Aslam took the other.

Jason Drewett set about the run chase by patiently accumulating 80 as Merstham won by six wickets, with Haseeb Qureshi knocking 41, Arham Ali 14 and Will Matthews 21 not out. Merstham won in the 29th over.

Callum Letts took 6-16 in just 5.3 overs and Afsar Khan plus Zeeshan Murtaza took another couple of wickets each as Addiscombe were all out for 117 in 24 overs.

In reply, Merstham lost several early wickets, but Jason Kyte of the top order notched 27 and Ben Snelling carried on the job with 24, George Corrie struck 18, and James Lowe (15 not out) and Zee Murtaza (11 not out) steered Merstham over the line.

The fourth team also chose to bowl, inviting league new boys East Molesey to bat. Merstham restricted the Moles early on to a low run rate, although wickets were sometimes a while coming.

Omer Shuja had no luck with wickets in his first spell, but took a late wicket to finish on 1-25 - and the top three all departed lbw for less than 10 - while Asif Akhtar took one at either end of the innings (2-25), with Harrish Joseph starring in the middle (3-11) and new face Kush Patel taking 2-17. John Young and Matt Greaves also took a wicket. There was a missed run out and a dropped catch or two and a few loose overs which enabled the visitors to reach 167.

Even so, the target did not look imposing or seem beyond the capabilities of a team who had scored more than 180 a couple of times this season.

Unfortunately while the run rate kept pace wit requirements early on, wickets fell quickly. Only Kashif Noon (bowled on 13 at 30-3), Akhtar (trapped lbw on 25 at 70-7) and keeper Brennan Calafato (26 and the ninth wicket at 90-9) scored more than 20.

The team limped to a disappointing 101 all out after 27 overs, four of them caught by the keeper.