Graeme Law rounds up recent Under 11 matches, while Sara Smalley reports on another Under 14s nailbiter!
Earlier this molnth, Merstham beat Capel in the quarter-finals of the Under 14 ESCL Cup.
Horsley & Send 121
Weybridge Vandals 153
Last weekend wasn’t so much a bad day at the office for the two Under 11 teams, but rather a catastrophic disaster where the corporate internet went down, half the sales team quit and the junior receptionist ran off to South America with the keys to the coffee machine and the contents of the company bank accounts.
The nightmare started even before a ball was bowled in the ESCL game on Friday evening, a pre-match "training ground” accident seeing Thomas Harris fracturing his elbow. Put into bat against a very strong Trinity Mid-Whitgiftian team (who were fielding some of their Division 1 table-topping side), the team then got off to a terrible start, with two run-outs in the very first over.
Merstham’s Under 14 Falcons beat Dorking U14s in the first round of the ESCL Cup in a re-arranged match on Monday 4th June.
The U14 cup match
Second team action at Quality Street
In their second NEC league game, Merstham Under 11s won the toss and put Spencer in on a wicket best described as “a monster”. With further rain forecast later in the morning, the game was shortened to 20 overs per innings.
Merstham 143
Old Emanuel 146-4
After their first victory of the season the previous week, Merstham suffered at the hands of Old Emanuel in the Surrey Championship Division Five, losing by six wickets.
Last season the U11s were known for their close finishes; thankfully they haven’t lost the knack in 2018, writes Graeme Law.
Tactics talk and tea