Fuller’s County League Division One

Merstham 235-8

Merstham’s first team notched up a winning double on Bank Holiday weekend, with victory in the first Fuller’s League Division One game of the season as well as making further progress in the league cup.

Captain Naveed Saeed decided to ask visitors Chaldon CMO to bat in Saturday’s league game and his decision was rewarded when they were all out for 124.

As part of our continued "Friends of Surrey Cricket" affiliation with Surrey County Cricket Club, we have been given 50 tickets to the Surrey vs Glamorgan T20 Blast match on Friday 15th May.

The tickets are in OCS Block 20, Lower Tier and are available to any registered club member. Play begins at 6:30pm.

Surrey County Fuller’s League Cup, 1st round

Merstham 247-8

Merstham's development team were outplayed by opponents Normandy in their first Trust League fixture of the season.

A strong Normandy team, who won the toss and elected to bat, saw off a decent start by Rory Crouch (10), whose wicket went to the pace of Mackenzie.

Junior members, particularly aged under-13 to under-16, are encouraged to put themselves forward for Sunday's 'inter-club' match where, nominally, the Sunday first team will face the Sunday second team. In reality this will be mix and match. The idea of the fixture is to integrate young (under-18) players into the senior ranks and introduce them to the 40+ over version of the game they will encounter when called up to adult senior games during the season.

The fixture is the brainchild of Bobby Sharp, our fixtures secretary who himself has benefited from playing senior cricket well before he was 18. Sunday seconds captain Bill Ash will be wearing a coloured armband in memory of Terry Garrett. Anyone who is available should contact Sunday seconds captain Jon White.

The combined Sunday first and second team started the season with a victory in a tight game against Lingfield New Chapel. After losing the toss Merstham were put into bat and made slow progress to reach 50 in the 17th over.   Skipper Jon White (27), Bobby Sharp (57) and Will Prior (20) accelerated the accumulation, but wickets continued to fall, with all down in the 41st over of a timed game for 164.   Lingfield made an encouraging start (99-2) with the score galloping along at four or five runs an over until the ball was put into vice captain Bill Ash's hands. Ash captured seven of the Lingfield wickets in a 15 over spell for 53 runs. Joe Rees-Davies wrapped up the innings with the final wicket, giving Merstham victory by a slim 14 runs, the visitors batting 40.3 overs, two more balls than their hosts.    

Training sessions for junior members start on Friday April 17 and then carry on during the week starting Monday April 20.

Please see the net practice and training page for details of when your age group trains.

About 20 volunteers from Merstham Cricket Club took part in the national NatWest Cricket Force weekend activities, co-ordinated by the England and Wales Cricket Board as a way of encouraging members at all clubs in the country to prepare their club for the season. This year, Merstham decided to concentrate their activities on The Ring, on Earlswood Common, just down from St John's Church. This ground is where our third and fourth teams play on a Saturday, as well as where some junior matches are played. Tasks on Saturday included repainting the inside of the pavilion, including changing rooms and the shower floor as well as giving the kitchen a thorough clean. Volunteers came from across the whole club, juniors as well as adult players from all four Saturday teams and the two Sunday teams, plus club officials.

Then on Sunday, at the club's main home in Quality Street, Merstham, some regular maintenance was carried out to ensure the ground was in order in time for next weekend's opening friendly of the season. We are hoping to build on our 150th anniversary season last year, when the first team won the Fuller's League Division Two title. Anyone interested in playing from under 7s upwards, should email club captainRichard Feist (adults) or (juniors) Simone Murrough.

The funeral of Terry Garrett, a long-standing member and a treasurer of the club for more than 20 years, will take place on Tuesday April 28th.

This will be at Randalls Park Crematorium, Leatherhead, at 1.15pm. Family flowers only. Donations in his name can be made to St Catherine's Hospice, either at the service or through the Co-op funeral services in Woodhatch.