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1st XI vs Chingford (Home) – League.
Chelmsford 177/8 from 45 overs.
Chingford 63 all out from 28.1 overs.
Chelmsford win by 114 runs.
Chelmsford Cricket Club claimed a comfortable victory against Chingford on Saturday in the Essex League Premier Division to move even closer to the league title. This game marked the return of ‘overs cricket’ which is 45 overs per side at a 12:30pm start.
Chelmsford’s captain, Jack Sterland, won the toss at Chelmer Park and elected to bat first with resident opening partner, Dan Hagen. The pair, looking good, reached 25 without loss after the first seven overs but the partnership was broken when Hagen was caught by Alfie Taylor from the bowling of Chingford skipper, Alex Stokoe. Hagen departed for 10 off 18 and Chelmsford were 25/1 after 8 overs.
Things got worse for the home side as another wicket fell in the next over. Chelmsford’s number three, Ben Clifford, was caught by Liam Lannen from the bowling of George Duke after trying to attempt a reverse sweep. B. Clifford left the field with just 1 run from 6 balls.
James Clifford joined Sterland and the two lasted a decent eight overs before Chingford claimed their third wicket. Lannen had J. Clifford playing one into the hands of Christopher Baldock and had to leave for 13 from 22. This brought Aaron Beard to the crease, but he had to depart without score just four balls later as he was bowled by Lannen, the Chingford bowler claimed two wickets in one over to put Chelmsford at 64/4 after 18 overs.
J. Cook was Sterland’s next partner but worryingly for the hosts the partnership only lasted 14 balls as J. Cook was bowled by George Duke in a wicket-maiden 21st over. Oliver Devenish was next in for Chelmsford and settled the falling of wickets with Sterland as the pair stood strong to see off eight overs and bring Chelmsford’s score to 85/5 after 29 overs.
However, Stokoe cleaned up Devenish’s stumps in the 30th over to claim a wicket-maiden and the sixth wicket of the innings.
With Chelmsford at 85/6 after 30 overs, it was fair to say they were looking at a batting collapse, but luckily for them they still had the brilliantly inform Jack Sterland still at the crease.
In the 32nd over, Sterland reached 50 in 91 balls after 114 minutes of play and five 4s. A vital half-century from the Chelmsford captain as he looked to carry his team towards a defendable total. Devenish’s wicket brought Brad Green to the middle and the partnership of Green and Sterland proved to be a crucial one as the pair survived twelve and a half overs together, putting on a brilliant 71 run partnership. Green’s wicket was eventually claimed by Taylor though after he was caught by Lewis Dixon in the 43rd over and exited for 13 from 37.
With two overs to go Sterland was eyeing up his century and after some intelligent running between the wickets from Liam Keaney and himself, the Chelmsford skipper claimed his 6th century of the season. An extremely important knock once again from Sterland who goes to a total of 1449 runs in all competitions this season. In the penultimate ball of the innings, Taylor caught Sterland out from the bowling of Lannen and he departed for an outstanding 106 from 138. Keaney ended the game with a boundary to place Chelmsford with a total of 177/8 after 45 overs.
Chingford’s chase of 178 to win didn’t start in the way they’d hoped as Chelmsford seamer, Andy Styan, took the first wicket in the second over after Alex Agedah played one into the hands of J. Cook. Agedah leaving with 2 off 10. Styan then bowled Chingford’s second opener, Harry Houldsworth, in the fourth over and he also left the field with just 2 runs to his name. Chingford were 8/2 after 4 overs.
The visitor’s case to win the game worsened as Styan incredibly claimed two wickets in the 10th over, belonging to Dixon and Taylor. J. Clifford caught Dixon out for 1 off 22 and Taylor was bowled for a duck after facing three balls. Styan’s superb bowling pinned Chingford to a score of 21/4 and alarmingly looked out of the game already. Styan with four wickets to his name.
Keaney stepped up to take the fifth wicket in the next over as Beard caught Baldock. Like Taylor, Baldock departed with a duck after facing just three balls. The away side fell to 25/5 after 11 overs and victory looked like an impossible target. Andrew MacGregor and Ross Simmons were the two batsmen at the crease and the pair somewhat plugged the rapid rate of wickets as they lasted seven overs together whilst putting on 15 runs, until MacGregor was adjudged LBW in the 19th over from the bowling of Ben Waring. MacGregor put on a good 24 runs from 45 balls considering the struggle of run scoring from his teammates.
Lannen joined Simmons, but a partnership wouldn’t form as Waring bowled Lannen on the first ball of the 21st over. The Chingford batsman only adding 1 to the total. In the next over, Stokoe looked for a quick single only for Simmons to be brilliantly run out by Waring with a quick shy at the stumps from an angle which the Chelmsford man only had one stump to aim at. Simmons out for 1 off 24 and Chingford were at a sore score of 45/8 after the wicket-maiden in the 22nd over.
Stokoe and new-in Latif would only put on a 4-run partnership as Waring claimed another wicket in the 25th over after Stokoe was caught by J. Cook at short leg. The Chingford captain departed with 6 from 17 and the wicket-maiden from Waring had the away side at 49/9.
The last wicket stand of Latif and Duke wasn’t prolific because Waring bowled Latif on the first ball of the 30th over to claim his 4th wicket of the game and victory for Chelmsford. Chingford finished on 63 all out.
This win for Chelmsford means they are one step away from winning the league title with it firmly in their hands. If they beat Hadleigh away this Saturday and Brentwood beat Wanstead, then the title belongs to them with two games in hand and celebrations at Chelmer Park will begin.
2nd XI vs Brentwood (Away) – League.
Brentwood 177/9 from 40 overs.
Chelmsford 178/5 from 35.4 overs.
Chelmsford won by 5 wickets.
Cran won the toss and opted for Plan A as usual in sticking Brentwood in.
Opener, Jonathan Walford, former Brentwood 1sts with nearly 7,000 Premier League runs, but these days, only playing a couple of games a season. Both of them against Chelmsford, it would seem. He got 51 runs earlier in the season against us at Chelmer.
Anyway, he looked different class and took Drainy for three 4's in 4 balls, early on. But Drainy immediately struck back, by having the other opener and Brentwood captain, Maxwell well caught behind for 0 by Nick Bailey. 18-1 off 5 overs.
With Walford dominating, Brentwood moved to 67 off 15. So Cran turned to Rob Hayto's off spin, whose first 2 overs were maidens. In his third over, another maiden, the last before the mid-innings break, Rob had the number 3 well caught by Harry Page just inside the midwicket boundary. 75-2 at the midpoint.
Probably the pivotal moment of the match arrived in the second over after the break, when 2 balls into Rob's fourth over. Walford smashed back a ball at him, Rob parried it, into his face, and then caught the rebound. Fortunately, no features were rearranged or noticeably even marked. But Walford was gone for 58 off 58 balls. Rob's figures at this point 3.2-3-0-2. Not too shabby.
By now, Stuey was on at the other end, but his leg spin was attacked by Payne (32), who hit him for three 6's over the short long off boundary, before Stuey eventually had him caught there just inside by Dutchy. The fourth wicket pair had added 46 in a little over 7 overs, 123-4, 11 overs left.
Brentwood continued to score at a run a ball for the next 5 overs to reach 152 in the 34th over, whereupon Rob Hayto, ran out the number 6, by way of a misfiled at short midwicket, persuading the batsman to come back for two, but failing to beat Rob's direct hit on the stumps, 152-5, 6 overs left.
Lids (8-0-35-1) removed the belligerent number 4, Boon (36), caught by Dutchy, again at long on. The returning Drainy then took 3 wickets in 8 balls in his last 2 overs, including 2 in 2 to set up the last man for the hat-trick and a 'fifer', but it was not to be as the last man negotiated 3 dot balls.
Brentwood 177-9 off 40, Drainy (8-1-38-4), Rob Hayto, (8-3-16-2), Stuey (7-0-50-1).
As the Brentwood wickets have reportedly been not up to their usual standard this season, it was hard to judge what was a 'par' score.
Both openers gone in the first 6 overs to leave Chelmsford on 21-2 was not promising, but Dutchy and Harry Page (10) added 36 in 9 overs.
58-3 off 15 was below where Brentwood had been at the same stage (67-1), but the challenge of 120 off 25 overs was tackled positively as Dutchy and Harry Arnold (21) added 47 in 8 overs, before Harry was bowled. 105-4. 73 required from 17 overs.
Nick Bailey (34*) joined Dutchy, and the pair added 41 in 9 overs, before Dutchy was bowled for 61, (his first 50 of the season).
The target was now down to 31 off 9 overs, and Nick, and Cran (11*) plundered the required runs in just half of those overs to complete the win by 5 wickets with 4.3 overs in hand.
A big thank you to Felix Gruijters for umpiring this one, having been prevented from doing so last week by the rain-off against Woodford Wells, and also, once again to our little band of travelling support.
Momentum maintained.
Wanstead also won again, and remain 37 points behind, but the games are running out with just 3 left. One win and 3 bonus points in the last 3 games will secure the title, as Chelmsford will have more wins than Wanstead. But I am sure the lads are intent on continuing the winning run, with wins against Saturday's opponents, bottom placed Chingford, at Chelmer on Saturday, and the following week, away to 8th placed Oakfield Parkonians.
That would leave 'The Two's as Champions facing Wanstead in the last game at Fortress Chelmer, with the motivation of seeking to maintain an unbeaten league season to put the icing on the cake.
3rd XI vs Oakfield Parkonians (Home) – League.
Chelmsford 237/7 from 40 overs.
Oakfield Parkonians 142/9 from 40 overs.
Chelmsford won by 95 runs.
Chelmsford Batting:
- Hugo Skepelhorn – 60 (six 4s).
- Luke Wilson – 50 (seven 4s).
- Matthew Cook – 45 (six 4s and two 6s).
Chelmsford Bowling:
- Abdul Baig – 8 overs, 12 runs, 4 wickets.
- Matthew Cole – 6 overs, 22 runs, 4 wickets.
- Tanay Mukherjee – 7 overs, 21 runs and 1 wicket.
4th XI vs Hornchurch 4th XI (Away) – League.
Hornchurch 134/9 from 40 overs.
Chelmsford 135/7 from 34.2 overs.
Chelmsford win by 3 wickets.
Chelmsford Batting:
- Michael Burns – 26*.
- Pranay Gogia – 21*.
- Paul Keaney – 18.
Chelmsford Bowling:
- Shona Keaney – 8 overs, 2 maidens, 23 runs and 4 wickets.
- Henry Pearce – 7 overs, 2 maidens, 23 runs and 3 wickets.
- Dan Cornell – 8 overs, 1 maiden, 37 runs and 1 wicket.
- Usama Ahmed – 5 overs, 1 maiden, 24 runs and 1 wicket.
5th XI vs Hadleigh & Thundersley 3rd XI (Away) – League.
Hadleigh 167/4 from 30 overs.
Chelmsford 166/8 from 40 overs.
Chelmsford lose.
Chelmsford Batting:
- Prajwal Pandey – 40.
- Aditya Kuzhupilly – 40.
- Nigel Guy – 36.
Chelmsford Bowling:
- Aditya Kuzhupilly – 2.3 overs, 9 runs and 2 wickets.
- Anisur Rahman – 8 overs, 1 maiden, 37 runs and 1 wicket.
- Ryan Cheverall – 7 overs, 1 maiden, 35 runs and 1 wicket.
6th XI vs Wickford 5th XI (Home) – Friendly.
Chelmsford 181/5 from 35 overs.
Wickford 138 all out from 33.1 overs.
Chelmsford win by 43 runs.
Chelmsford Batting:
- Dinil Siriwardana – 52 (nine 4s).
- James Fergus – 38 (seven 4s).
- Oakley Bromfield – 27 (two 6s two 4s)
Chelmsford Bowling:
- Oakley Bromfield – 7 overs, 1 maiden, 26 runs and 4 wickets.
- Nabeel Asghar – 7 overs, 2 maidens, 18 runs and 2 wickets.
- Neil Siriwardana – 2.1 overs, 1 maiden, 1 run and 2 wickets.
- Pip Cass – 7 overs, 34 runs and 1 wicket.
- Freddie Ryan – 5 overs, 31 runs and 1 wicket.