Our winter nets at St Bede's School, Redhill, will run for 10 weeks, from Saturday and Sunday February 1 and 2 - and it will soon be time to be thinking about Cricket Force and preparing our grounds for the season.

These are for adults and junior players as follows: Saturdays, 2pm-3pm U12s 3pm-4.30pm U13s 4.30pm-6pm U14s Sundays 10am to noon Adults and U16s 12-1pm U11s 1-2pm U8s and U9s 2-3pm U10s 3-4pm U15s The outdoor season will soon be here - after Cricket Force returns in early April in order to set up the ground for the season.

To all members

In accordance with the constitution, notice is given to all members that The Annual General Meeting of Merstham Cricket Club will be held on Sunday 19th January 2020 at The Pavilion, Quality Street, Merstham at 7pm.

We are honoured to announce that Merstham Cricket Club has been crowned Club of the Year 2019 at the Reigate & Banstead Sports Awards.
At the ceremony at Old Reigatian RFC, club chairman Richard Feist and members representing a range of the club's sections collected the award from the Reigate & Banstead Sports Council.

The citation for the award detailed how Merstham CC has reached new heights this year, continuing its success having nearly collapsed at the end of the 1990.
The nomination continued: "The effort put into encouraging local people to get involved has seen it field five Saturday sides, three Sunday sides, over 250 juniors, including two girls' sides and a disability squad all playing
competitive cricket within the Surrey leagues.

"The club also works hard with the Greenspaces section of the Council to keep cricket alive on
Earlswood Common, where cricket has been played for over 100 years. This relationship was at the forefront in getting games back on following the traveller's intrusion early in the season.

"In recognition of the safe environment provided by the club it has been Clubmark re-accredited
having maintained this status since 2006."

Its achievements (this year) are: U14 League Cup Winners; U9 League Winners; U11 and U14 girls league cricket; T20 Surrey Slam finalist; and the Disability Squad is unbeaten.

The "club of the year" award was sponsored by GLL Better and presented by its community sports manager Tony Brown.

It was one of about a dozen awards, given to a range junior and adult teams of the year, volunteers and coaches who had excelled in 2019. The evening, compered by David Kelly of Run Reigate, was attended by about 200 people.

Members are kindly requested to note that, after the end of the season, the outdoor cricket nets at Merstham Cricket Club are not to be used for training over the winter.

Indoor nets are due tol start up in January, for junior and senior members, and outdoor training is now over until April at the earliest. Members are requested to stay out of the nets during the winter months. Using the artificial surfaces in winter is not only dangerous as they are slippery, but hastens their wear and tear as they are not designed to be used at this time of year, and causes mess in the form of mud. Please respect your club, its equipment and the groundstaff who look after it, by refraining from using the outdoor nets in winter. Your co-operation is anticipated and appreciated.

After a "sad day" in which Merstham's first team were relegated from the Surrey Championship, first team skipper Laurie Nicholson handed his player of the season award to two people - one bowler and one batsman.

Asim Jaffrey, who took 37 wickets in the Division Five season and Ed Dawson, who scored 474 runs, shared the award.

Merstham's bid to stay in the Surrey Championship took a turn for a worse despite a captain's innings 66 from Laurie Nicholson, as relegation rivals SinjunGrammarians took a vital victory.

The visitors to Quality Street leapfrogged their hosts, who were left second bottom of the division after an 85-run defeat, which means they have to beat Division Five winners Old Emmanuel on Saturday to have any chance of staying up.

Amid perhaps one of the most bonkers Ashes Test matches, Merstham Cricket Club's first team had their own heroic performance in their battle against their own dreaded scenario - relegation.

Opening batsman Ed Dawson, like Ben Stokes for England, put in a back-to-the-wall innings of 70 as Merstham's first team dug out another vital victory in their bid to stay in the Surrey Championship.

The Magics, Merstham's disability side, took part in the Essex League tournament at the county ground in Chelmsford, playing matches against sides from Harold Wood and Chelmsford & Basildon.

They set to the task with huge enthusiasm and took the honours in both their games, winning the first eight-over pairs match by seven runs and the second by a massive 58 runs.

Merstham's first team took a vital win to keep alive their chances of staying in the Surrey Championship, by defeating the only team below them - Weybridge Vandals.

WIth the season drawing slowly to a close, it's time to think about celebrating our successes by attending the annual dinner dance - our formal end to the year. It is our formal end of season event, bringing all members of the club and other halves together - junior, senior and parents - together. The events consist of a three-course meal and dancing at £35 per head. Arrive 7.15pm to sit down to eat at 8pm. The event runs until midnight. To book a place or a table, please contact Richard Feist on 07896 114068 or via the email address on the poster.