Fuller's League Division Two

Ewhurst 248-5

CHIPPING IN: Simon Rivers, pictured above bowling, made a quickfire 32 as a makeshift opening batsman

Merstham 250-7

A THIRD victory in a row, raising Merstham to fifth, owed much to a solid partnership from Ali Pervaiz (46) and Manish Patel (76) which steadied the ship in the middle of Merstham's reply.

Ewhurst skipper James Cation elected to bat, but a tough opening spell of bowling from Joe Shinners and Wasil Mohar had Ewhurst in trouble at 17-1 after 12 overs when Shinners' short ball had the opener caught and bowled.

Short sharp spells of bowling were required in the heat, the change of bowling easing the pressure on the batsmen.

Cation was dogged at one end and Bradbury, then Taylor were more expansive with their shots and were able to up the run rate taking advantage of small boundaries and a lightning-fast outfield.

Cation was dismissed for 76 by the left-arm spin of James Vincent and Merstham were able to keep the score within reach with tight bowling from Patel and the re-introduction of Mohar and Shinners before Ewhurst reached 248-5 from their 52 overs.

This left 43 overs for Merstham to score at a rate just below six an over to win.

Skipper Ed Loader was dismissed second ball for four with a high full toss from Fowle and Ewhurst looked confident.

But bowling Merstham out in 43 overs was always going to be hard.

Makeshift opener Simon Rivers continued where he left off last week and smashed a quickfire 32 before falling to a spectacular catch in the covers, and when Shinners (17) was adjudged lbw, it left Merstham vulnerable.

Pervaiz and Patel calmed the nerves and Rich Feist returned to bring Merstham to within 30 runs but the fingernails were soon being bitten again.

Patel was caught in deep midwicket and both James Parrett (run out) and James Vincent (lbw) were dismissed for ducks.

Mohar stepped up to the crease with 15 required and was able to do it almost single handedly, finishing the game off with two spectacular sixes over extra cover while Feist watched from the other end with a sensible 44 not out.

A satisfying win demonstrated Merstham's strength in depth of their batting and set them up for hosting fourth placed Long Ditton this Saturday, hoping to continue to home in on the promotion hopefuls.