Old Southendian & Southchurch (235/9) drew with Horndon On The Hill (160/9)

Hamro Foundation Essex Cricket League Division One, Saturday June 26

The last Saturday in June saw me take a long stroll up to Garon Park from my flat near the seafront in Southend to watch one of my local sides Old Southendian & Southchurch take on Hordon On The Hill in a Hamro Foundation Essex Cricket League Division One encounter.

The hosts won the toss on a beautiful sunny afternoon and elected to bat first, and they got off to a great start as openers Sam Hodgson and Kyle Smith put on 69 for the opening wicket in good time before Smith was dismissed for 37 after being trapped LBW by Paul Bennett, and at 90/1 the hosts looked well set.

But the hosts then lost three wickets, including Hodgson for a well made 47, to fall to 105/4, and that good start was threatening to be undone, however, the hosts managed to dig in and get themselves through that little wobble and saw decent contributions from Waqas Khaliq (20), Max Craddock (38) and keeper Matthew Darvill (20) get them back on track.

At 197/8 they still hoped to get 200, and thanks to cameos from Sandeep Muraleedharan (19no) and skipper Matthew Austin (14) they got themselves up to a very respectable 235/9 in their 50 overs, meaning the visitors would have to bat well to chase down that score in a minimum 45 overs, or at least not get bowled out and take a draw in this one.

Skipper Jeff West was the pick of the bowlers for Horndon taking 3-46, but there were decent contributions from Andrew Clark (2-45), Bennett (2-39) and Connor Hammond (2-48), but could their batsmen now back up their efforts?

Initially Hordon got off to a decent start with the bat, reaching 43/0 thanks to openers Ian Clark and Ryan Plom, but once they lost their first wicket, they crumbled to 72/6 and it looked nailed on that OS would go onto take a big win, but skipper West decided that taking 3-46 with the ball was not enough, and decided he would play a match saving innings for his side too.

Whilst batsmen came and went, he stood firm at one end, although it still looked like the hosts might just sneak a win as Austin and Ahmed Khawaja’s superb bowling saw them chip away at the wickets, and when Harry Cook was bowled by Austin with eleven balls of the game to go, the visitors had just one wicket left.

Clark, who had bowled well in the hosts innings, strode out to face the final few balls, and his single in the final over meant West could face the final few balls and grab a superb draw for Horndon when it looked impossible at one stage in their innings, and his 80 not out was a superb effort and capped a wonderful MOTM all round performance for his side, so well done to skipper West for that.

Disappointment for OS though who could not force that win, Austin (3-42) and Khawaja (3-40) were the pick of the bowlers, Jamil Ahmed (2-27) and Ahsan Yousaf (1-29) grabbed the other wickets, but it was not enough in the end as the visitors ended on 160/9 in their 46 overs. It means OS pick up 12 points whilst Horndon take 6pts.

A good day of cricket though with an exciting end, what more can you ask for, to see scorecards and bowling figures in more detail please click link here https://essexcl.play-cricket.com/website/results/4644355

Here are some photos I took during the day…

  

Wanstead & Snaresbrook (243) beat Hadleigh & Thundersley (143) by 100 runs

Hamro Foundation Essex Cricket League Premier Division, Saturday June 12

Saturday saw me over at John Burrows Park in Hadleigh for the very first time for an Hamro Foundation Essex Cricket League Premier Division contest between Hadleigh & Thundersley and Wanstead & Snaresbrook on another glorious afternoon near the Essex coast.

Visiting skipper Joe Ellis-Grewal won the toss and elected to bat on what looked a green pitch although the skipper did say to me that it was hard underneath so he was hoping his batsmen would finally fire this season, but initially it looked as if it would be another disappointing day with the bat for them.

Hadleigh opening bowlers Richard Revell and Louis Poynter nipped Tom Simmons and Robin Das out cheaply, and then Revell removed Kishen Velani, who has played second XI cricket for the county, and then Poynter got rid of Bilal Patel, the visitors found themselves 47/4, although Hassan Choudhury was still there, and it looked all hope rested on him.

He and Naivedyam Dwivedi were both removed though and at 78/6 Wanstead were staring down the barrel at a second straight loss in the division after last weekends home loss to Chingford, and at lunch Wanstead scraped to 95/6 with skipper Ellis-Grewal and all rounder Eshun Kalley at the wicket, it had certainly been the hosts session and they looked like they would bowl out Wanstead cheaply and give themselves a great chance of victory.

From that moment onwards though the game changed in the direction of Wanstead, and Ellis-Grewal and Kallay put on a match winning partnership of 91 for the seventh wicket, Kalley eventually departing for a superb 54, that brought wicketkeeper Jonathan Das to the wicket though and his 42 off 31 balls along with the skippers 71 helped the visitors up to 243 all out and all momentum had now shifted entirely towards Wanstead.

The pick of the hosts bowlers was Revell, who took 3-44 in his 16 overs, Poynter managed 3-45 from his 10.2 overs whilst Samuel Handley’s spin returned figures of 2-70 in 16 overs, but the hosts batsmen now had the tough task of trying to see off the new ball bowling partnership of Zain Shahzad and Kalley, who had his tail up after a superb innings with the bat.

Kalley duly removed Adam Forbes for a duck and then wicket keeper Darius Vapiwala for just 13 as the hosts fell to 29/2, but some resistance from the hosts saw them get to 114/4 after a useful 35 from Handley and a useful innings from Adam Soilleux, who was still at the crease and probably the hosts last real hope if they were to salvage a draw from this game.

Jahansher Akbar’s leg spin done for Luke Smith and skipper Adam Dobson, both lbw two balls in a row, where both batsman claimed they had hit the ball before going onto their pads, and then when Sollieux fell for 45 to Wanstead skipper Ellis-Grewal, also lbw, the game was as good as over, and sure enough after Akbar had taken the wicket of Ashley Bennett, Ellis-Grewal wrapped up the innings with the final two wickets to cap a fine all round performance, and the visitors had ended up cruising to the win by 100 runs.

Special praise must be given to Hadleigh opening bowler Revell who bowled beautifully, whilst Ellis-Grewal and Kalley had superb all-round performances with both bat and ball and were the main reason Wanstead won this game today, Akbar’s 3-17 off seven overs was also a special bowling performance too, and after a difficult morning/early afternoon for Wanstead, they turned this match on its head and ended up strolling to a superb win.

For full scorecards and bowling figures for this game please click here https://essexcl.play-cricket.com/website/results/4644100

Here are some pictures I took during the day: -

  

Hockley (115/2) beat Southend on Sea & EMT (105/6) by ten runs

Medlocks Southend Evening Cricket League, Tuesday June 8

On another fine summers evening in South Essex, I made my first trip to Rankins Cricket Club on the border of Rochford and Stambridge in an idyllic setting for some Southend Evening Cricket League fare, and this contest saw Hockley host Southend on Sea & EMT.

A not so prompt start meant the game was to be reduced to 17 overs a side, and the hosts batted first and after a slow but steady start against some decent opening bowling, the openers managed to put on sixty odd for the first wicket before a catch saw the first wicket fall, but the visitors were to only take one more wicket as some decent late accumulation of runs saw Hockley post a respectable 115/2 in their innings.

This meant SOS & EMT needed to score at almost seven runs an over from the start to chase the 116 run target down, and they had an awful start to their innings, sliding to 14/3 and miles behind the rate, however a batsmen who was known as 'Simmo' by his teammates came in and played a marvellous knock of 51 in a fourth wicket partnership of 78, however once he retired out with the score on 92, the batsmen who followed could not score the required runs to win the game and the visitors fell ten runs short.

A decent game though and a fairly close one in the end, and a wonderful way to spend a gorgeous summer evening I must say.

Here are some pictures I took during the contest this evening:-

Chingford (154/8) beat Wanstead & Snaresbrook (134) by twenty runs

Hamro Foundation Essex Cricket League Premier Division, Saturday June 5

It was back to Cricket for me on Saturday and another Hamro Foundation Essex League Premier Division contest, and a first ever visit to Wanstead Cricket Club for Wanstead & Snaresbrook Vs Chingford.

It is a very nice setting it must be said, also a nice walk from the tube station to the ground past some extremely pricey homes I would have thought, but it certainly is one of the most picturesque parts of The East End it must be said and looking even better in the sunshine.

Bar service was also done on an app you scanned at an outside table, I managed to get one under a tree in the shade, and it worked very well as the two beers I ordered, and the coffee when I first arrived came with a smile and friendly face within two minutes of me ordering it on my phone, so that system was certainly a success, so thank you!!!

To the game and Chingford, who were mid table, won the toss and decided to bat first on what turned out to be a slow low wicket and hard to score runs on, and Wanstead, who were joint top of the division without a defeat so far, certainly made use of this wicket with their bowling early on as pace bowler Eshun Kalley reduced the visitors to 10/2 as he bowled both openers Alfie Taylor and Ben MacGregor.

Chingford though managed to dig in and accumulate some runs, Alexander Maskell, Peter McDermott, Harry Houldsworth, skipper Alex Stokoe and Liam Lannen all made useful contributions to help their side get up to the score they managed, but the main stay of the innings was wicket keeper Aryan Gupta, whose patient 48 was the glue to the innings as Chingford managed to scrape and struggle to 154/8.

Kalley ended up with figures of 3-49 from his nine overs whilst Jahansher Akbar took 2-31 in his allotted overs, Zain Shahzad, Joe Ellis-Grewal and Naivedyam Dwivedi also chipped in with a wicket each as all five bowlers ended up with a dismissal, so it was a good all-round bowling display for the hosts, and they now had to get 155 to win this game at a rather sedate 3.45 an over.

You expected Wanstead to get this target although as said before the wicket was not an easy one to score runs on, and spinner MacGregor managed an early breakthrough when bowling Tom Simmons with just eight runs on the board, but Hassan Chowdhury and Robin Das soon set about rebuilding the innings and with those two at the crease things were looking good for the hosts.

They put on 61 for the second wicket until spinner Liam Lannen made the all-important partnership breaker when Das edged into the gloves of keeper Gupta, he did not look happy with the decision but had to trudge off, and then Lannen soon had a second wicket when he had Dwivedi caught behind in identical fashion for a duck, and the visitors now had a sniff of an unlikely win.

However, with Wanstead at 88/3 with fifteen overs to go requiring 4.47 an over with seven wickets in hand, and Chowdhury still at the crease, you still fancied the hosts to knock them off, but after reaching 100/3 they lost four wickets for thirteen runs, including Chowdhury who was bowled by pace bowler Haris Latif after he had made a decent 56, and the visitors spinners of MacGregor, Stokoe and Lannen ended up being too much for the hosts as they eventually were bowled out twenty runs short in the 43^rd over of the innings.

MacGregor and Stokoe both picked up three wickets a piece, whilst Lannen took a couple, a very big couple of wickets when Wanstead looked as if they would cruise away to victory, Latif and Alife Taylor picked up a wicket each as the visitor’s superb bowling effort took them to a stunning win and saw Wanstead fall to a first defeat of the season.

To see scorecards and bowling figures of this game in more detail please click on link here https://essexcl.play-cricket.com/website/results/4644094

Here are some snaps I took of the day: -

  

Leigh-on-Sea (203/5) beat Southend-on-Sea & EMT (105/9) by 98 runs

Medlocks Southend Evening Cricket League, Wednesday June 2

On a nice June evening (apart from a billion Gnats landing on me!!!) at Southchurch Park I popped over to watch my first Medlocks Southend Evening Cricket League contest as hosts SOS & EMT took on Leigh-on-Sea Cricket Club it a twenty overs a side contest.

Leigh batted first and it didn't start well for them, losing a wicket to just the third ball for no runs, I had not even made my position round to the banking I was going to sit/lie/stand on and in fact missed the wicket completely as was too busy saying hello to a strangers dog who had come over to me to say hello!!!

Despite this early set back for the visitors it was to be their only one, and a second wicket stand of 72 got them back up and running, and in fact they did not lose anymore wickets in the conventional way for the rest of the innings as the next three 'wickets' were all batsmen who retired 'out', two of them after making fifties (it's something they do in this competition) and the other retired on 35 not out, and after some big hitting they amassed a huge total and you felt it was one the hosts would have no chance of chasing down.

Sure enough they never ever looked like chasing their mammoth target of 204 down, and at 17/3 it looked like they would succumb to a monumental defeat, and a rather embarrassing one at that, however a fourth wicket stand of 54 did at least nudge them up towards some sort of respectability, with one of the batsmen making 45, and you felt a score of 120 plus was possible, but once he got out the runs just totally dried up and they could only struggle to 105/9 in their twenty overs. 

It had been a brilliant all round display from Leigh-on-Sea, who had a bowler called Harry who was just 14 years of age, he looked very good already so he can only get bigger and better, he took a couple of wickets and bowled very well indeed, as did all his other bowling compatriots, so well done to him and his teammates, this was a thrashing in every sense of the word.

Lastly it was good to see slightly different things in this game, batsmen retiring once they reach fifty to give other batsmen a go, having ten overs bowled from one end before bowling the second set of ten from the other, no sightscreen at one end, players/staff taking turns to umpire the game, and a mixture of adults and teenagers in both sides with differing types of bowling and batting techniques, these people do it for the love of the game and that's is good to see.

Here are some snaps I took during both innings:-