Merstham firsts lose. Can thirds push for promotion?

A great chance for Merstham to secure a victory in Surrey Championship Division Five fell apart at Byfleet on Saturday.

After a rain-delayed start, the Magics made a great start, having asked their hosts to bat.

Humayoon Nasir had Andy Savage (2) stumped by Will Matthews at 8-1 and had Henry Buxton (10) trapped lbw on his way to 4-41, to leave the hosts 25-2.

Asim Jaffri continued the stranglehold with two wickets - one leg before and the other caught - as Byfleet faltered at 37-4.

The hosts rallied before Merstham took three more wickets in the 60s - Nasir again and two for Mohsin Ali (2-16 off six) - before a ninth wicket stand pushed them towards the hundred.

Jaffri returned to snaffle two more and finish with 4-47 as Byfleet fell for 104 off 32 overs. Will Preston took two catches, Matthews two and Simon Rivers the other in an innings which Merstham felt gave them a real chance of moving from third bottom in the division to above their opponents.

However, after their reply began with 19 before the loss of George Chellis, Merstham went from 24-2 when captain Laurie Nicholson fell to 35-8 in just a few overs.

Mohsin Ali notched 13 and Rivers 23 not out as the visitors could only put together an innings of 56 in 34.2 overs.

Hampton Hill, mid-table with an eye on promotion, visit Quality Street on Saturday.

The second team's match was finely balanced at drinks of Kingstonian's innings as the visitors to Quality Street chased down Merstham's 170-8 off 49 overs.

Jack Letts scored more than half of Merstham's runs, starting with a 57 peartnership with Nav Saeed (26) to open. After the rain affected start, Letts provided the basis for a decent total, finishing with a personal score of 90 and being the seventh wicket to fall, on 166. Club chairman Richard Feist (25) was the final wicket to fall on the final ball of the innings - and only the third player to score more than 10 - when pushing for as many runs as possible.

With the ball, Merstham attained an early breakthrough, Safyan Aslam having one opener caught by Feist with the score on 10. Aslam struck again to reduce Kingstonian to 26-2, but then the visitors put on 67 before Ameer Pasha had the other opener Rashu Khanna caught by Manish Patel for 51.

Thereafter, while Aslam took another victim and finished on 3-33 and Pasha on 2-26, wickets proved hard to come by as the visitors won by five wickets after 33.3 overs.

The thirds look set for a battle with Dulwich for the second promotion place in Division Three East, after beating second bottom Woodmansterne by 173 runs.

After a rain delayed start and losing a couple of early wickets Ashar Syed scored 40, Matt Hill 83 not out, Ben Snelling 20 and James Lowe 46 not out were the main contributors of a total of 227-6. Captain Lowe didn't know he was on 46 facing the final ball and could have made an attempt to swish another four, having struck four already and three sixes.

In reply, Woodmansterne had little answer to Fraser Percival, who bowled both openers and had the No 3 trapped lbw with just 18 scored, finishing with figures of 4-16 and two maidens in six overs.

Ben Snelling took a caught and bowled, for 1-20 off six. Alvin Sathya again bowled beautifully, taking 1-7 off five overs. Callum Letts took 1-10, while George Corrie only bowled two balls but took one wicket, the final one, as Woodmansterne were all out for 54. Merstham will look to cement third by defeating fourth placed Wimbledon on Saturday.

Photo by Harry David