HASLEMERE lost their proud unbeaten record on Saturday, but gained enough points to clinch the Surrey Championship Division Five title.

Leigh Thayre’s side looked well on the way to win number 12 of the season after dismissing Merrow for 145 at the Rec, but eventually lost by an agonising five runs.

Merrow, opting to bat first, recovered from 19-2 to 100-2, with Dan Lee (65) and Peter Scott (43) sharing a fine partnership. However, both fell to Sam Williams and the spinner ran through the later batting, taking 6-13 off nine overs as the visitors collapsed to 145 all out.

Haslemere, in turn, were in trouble at 29-4 before Alex Hooker took control and looked to be closing in on victory as he and Pete Dudley took the score to 100-5.

When Hooker was caught for 52, Haslemere were 132-7, needing 14 runs for the win. But then Thayre was caught for 15 and Scott cleaned up the tail to leave the champions all out for 140 with nine balls remaining.

Haslemere visit Chertsey in their last game of the season.