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1st XI vs Chingford (Away) – League.
Chelmsford 325/6 from 64 overs.
Chingford 203/8 from 65 overs.
Chelmsford draw with Chingford.
Chingford Work Hard for Draw Against In-Form Chelmsford.
On Saturday 12th June, Chingford Cricket Club hosted Chelmsford Cricket Club in a 1st team game which, for the first time this season, started at 11am. The visitors won the toss and captain Jack Sterland elected to bat first.
Having already hit 779 runs so far this season, Sterland looked to continue his amazing form with the bat, and he did just that. Chelmsford got off to a great start and Sterland and fellow opener Dan Hagen reached a 50-run partnership in the 8th over, which placed Chelmsford at a very healthy score of 57/0 off 8 overs.
Hagen and Sterland looked strong and it wasn't long before Sterland reached his half century. In the 19th over, he reached 50 runs from 69 balls. Chelmsford's openers clearly turned up to Chingford with confidence and in good form as the pair reached the 100 partnership in the 21st over, with the away side at a score of 102 without loss. Hagen's half century soon followed Sterland's.
However, Chingford got their long awaited first wicket in the 29th over when George Duke bowled Hagen out for 51 off 74 balls. Chelmsford at 122/1. Nick Prowting replaced Hagen at the crease.
With Sterland comfortably set in the game and not looking like he was going anywhere soon the opener reached his century, his third one so far this season, in the 39th over. The Chelmsford captain's 100 came off 129 balls. Chelmsford at a very good 180/1.
Sterland and Prowting lasted a near twenty over partnership when Sterland was given out LBW from the bowling of Ben MacGregor, for a score of 126 off 155. A brilliant knock! James Clifford joined Prowting at the crease with the score at 212/2 but their partnership wouldn't last long as four overs later Clifford (like his captain) was given out LBW to the bowling of B. MacGregor, in the 50th over.
Aaron Beard now joined Prowting but he only lasted 9 balls when he was caught by Peter McDermott off the bowling of B. MacGregor again. Chelmsford at 239/4. Ben Clifford was next in for Chelmsford and looked to help Prowting push on for his half century, of which he achieved in the 57th over - 50 runs off 74 balls.
In the next over Prowting and B. Clifford reached their 50 partnership, after nine boundaries in five overs (including a maximum from Clifford), which was well appreciated from their teammates. But in the ball after the celebrations, Chingford claimed their 5th wicket when B. Clifford was caught out by A. MacGregor from the bowling of B. MacGregor. Chelmsford at a very decent score of 289/5.
Prowting departed the field in the 61st over for 60 off 89 balls and with Chelmsford at 305/6.
Brad Green and Jack Cook got Chelmsford up to 320 before three wickets in the last over, including two back-to-back from B. MacGregor, saw Chelmsford finish on a very good score of 325/6 off 64 overs.
Chingford's innings started horrifically when they lost opener B. MacGregor in the first over, caught by J. Clifford off Beard's bowling. 2/1 from the first over.
Gupta joined Chingford star man and Essex League Cricketer Podcast Host Alfie Taylor (great podcast, check it out) and the pair looked to steady the panic from the first over. However, seven overs later Chelmsford claimed their second wicket when Taylor edged off the bowling of Keaney straight into the hands of Sterland. Taylor departed with a score of 22 off 18 and Chingford were at 34/2.
Gupta soon followed and edged one behind to keeper Green off Beard's bowling, which meant that Chingford were alarmingly 43/3 off 11 overs.
A. MacGregor joined up with Maskell and the pair were fantastic in stopping the flow of wickets as they survived 16 overs and put on a 47 run partnership. But A. MacGregor (26 off 51) was caught off J. Clifford from the bowling of brother B. Clifford. Chingford 90/4 off 28 overs.
Maskell was the next to depart for a well needed 42 off 78 after he was caught at short leg by J. Cook off the bowling of J. Clifford. Chingford at 114/5 off 33 overs.
Houldsworth and McDermott were the two now at the crease but in the 39th over, Houldsworth was caught and bowled by J. Clifford, leaving Chingford at 122/6.
Chingford's game plan was to now try and survive, block out and get the draw. Which McDermott and Lannen combined to do fantastically, as the pair survived thirteen and a half overs and putting on a crucial 55 run partnership before Lannen was bowled by Beard for 20 off 49.
Ben Waring got the last wicket of the game (but not Chingford's) in the 59th over when he got Alexander Shortt out LBW. McDermott remained not out with a vital score of 54 from 100 balls, with the hosts finishing on 203/8, and survived to see Chingford claim a well-earned draw against Chelmsford in what was a tough day in the dirt for the visitors and a gritty performance from the hosts.
2nd XI vs Brentwood (Home) – League.
Brentwood 173/8 from 50 overs.
Chelmsford 176/8 from 45 overs.
Chelmsford win by 2 wickets.
This was one of those games that ebbed and flowed, both sides were at times on top, although Chelmsford probably felt that they were favourites to win most of the time. But approaching the final over, the result was in doubt, with all outcomes possible. That Chelmsford finally prevailed was due jointly to an all-round solid team performance, crowned by a very good 2nd XI maiden league half century from Rishabh Upadhyay.
Chelmsford lost the toss and so ended up fielding first in warm sunny conditions, very warm even when the sun escaped the clouds.
Drainy struck in his second over, bowling the often-prolific Ben Sach with a peach of a ball. The Walford brothers then combined to mount an effective resistance and surviving quite a few close lbw appeals especially from an increasingly frustrated Drainy. After a dozen or so overs, the opening bowlers Drainy and Andy Styan were relieved by Harry Arnold and James Liddiard, which had the effect of removing Richard Walford for 16 off Lids, well grabbed with some venom by a still bristling Drainy prowling with menace at midwicket.
Two overs later, Lids had the new batsman, the Brentwood skipper, Boon caught by Cran at slip. 48-3. 21 overs. Lids (at this stage) 3-2-1-2. He took another wicket in his sixth over caught Chids at cover, but then was hit by the increasingly expansive Walford for 3 consecutive 4's.
Stuey replaced Harry who had had no luck (3-0-18-0), and in his second over Stuey had former Brentwood first XI batsman, Jon Walford (tons of runs at that level - just ask Eddie!) caught by the ever-reliable Cran at long on for 51 just as he was starting to look really ominous. 66-4 at the halfway point of 25 overs.
Tom Halsey (6-0-8-2) replaced Lids and struck twice in his second over with the assistance of catches by Lids at midwicket and Catchy behind. Stuey (10-2-21-2) bowled the number 9. 102-8 from 36 overs, Chelmsford in control? The next 3 overs yielded only 3 runs as Brentwood just looked to survive.
The decision was made to bring back the quicks in a bid to terminate the innings, but this backfired as the ninth wicket pair played them with some ease (and their get out of jail card) in an unbeaten stand of 71 over the remaining 14 overs to take the Brentwood innings to 173-8 off the 50 overs.
For Brentwood, Nazir Khan finished on 47* and PJ Jacques on 26*.
The Chelmsford seamers had their earlier figures tarnished somewhat with Drainy finishing with (12-4-40-1), Andy Styan (9-1-24-0) and Lids (10-3-57-3).
With the asking rate under 4 an over, the Chelmsford reply did not start well, 12-2 after 3 overs, with both openers gone to injudicious shots, Harry caught at short backward square for 4, and Catchy, caught behind off one that took off.
Dutchy (22) and Chids (26) played sensibly, adding 49 in 14 overs, before departing in quick succession, Dutchy bowled, and Chids by the fickle finger of LBW. 65-2 from 20, 109 required from 25.
Rishi and Cran then combined in the key partnership of the innings, 59 off 11 overs before Cran (21) succumbed to the fickle finger again. Drainy, hit a quickfire 17 (2x4 1x6) but was bowled just before Rishi completed his maiden 2nd XI League 50.
However, he was bowled on 56 (8x4 65 balls), and Stuey (0) quickly followed, also bowled.
160-8, with 14 required from 7 overs.
Brentwood sensed an opportunity, but with Lids, especially watchful, dots and singles, rather than trademark triple 4 heroics, whilst Andy clobbered a precious boundary, the score was advanced to 171-8 with one over remaining. Lids (7*) supplied another dot and another single, before Andy (10*) swung the winning boundary over the close-in field. Victory secured with 3 balls to spare.
Momentum maintained (just), and significantly so, as Chingford improbably held out to deny main rivals Wanstead. Chelmsford therefore lead the table by 11 points.
Next week, the 2's are away to the afore-mentioned bottom of the table Chingford, and must look to go one better than Wanstead by getting a win to consolidate their top of the table position.
3rd XI vs Oakfield Parkonians (Away) – League.
Oaklfield Parkonians 167 all out from 44.1 overs.
Chelmsford 168/4 from 31.1 overs.
Chelmsford win by 6 wickets.
Chelmsford maintains their 100% record in the league to extend a gap at the top of the table. Chelmsford won the toss and elected to field as they looked to extend their 100% record to four games at the start of the campaign.
Early runs were stemmed by the attritional bowling partnership of Neil Fergus (0-18) and Shona Keaney (0-40). The breakthrough was made by the introduction of last week’s star performer Rob Hayto when Arora chipped one to Rycroft at cover just before drinks.
The spin pair of Hayto (4-38) and Abdul Baig (5-15) dominated the middle portion of the host’s innings taking wickets at regular intervals.
Anis Rehman also picking the only wicket to come from a seamer with his first ball of the afternoon. As Abdul Baig took the final wicket the hosts were reduced to 167 all out after 44.1 overs.
Ed Cole was dismissed early by Matthew Holland which was met by wild scenes from the Parkonians XI. Rob Hayto (73) set about his work early hitting some lusty blows including an unbelievably well-timed drive over cover for 6, unfortunately for Holland he was on the receiving end of one of Hayto's lusty blows at short leg.
Hugo Skepelhorn (68*) at the over end also did not take long to go about his work. Seemingly wearing a cap to bat worked to his advantage as Holland continued to serve up short deliveries in an attempt to phase, which was unsuccessful as Skepelhorn continued to play to the rope.
The pair batted beautifully together making it tough work for the bowling attack as they both passed fifty and a 100 hundred partnership in quick succession. At the time of Hayto’s dismissal the pair had put on 143 which put them close to the winning total. A couple of late wickets gave the hosts’s some extra bonus points but Phil Arnold and Skepelhorn saw the 3’s over the line to a fourth consecutive win.
Chelmsford will host Belhus at Chelmer Park in the seventh round of matches
4th XI vs Hornchurch (Home) – League.
Hornchurch 204 all out from 50 overs.
Chelmsford 206/7 from 43.1 overs.
Chelmsford win by 3 wickets.
The fourth team continued their season with a home game this week vs Hornchurch 4’s in the first of the timed games. Chelmsford lost the toss and were sent into the field on a hot day at Chelmer Park. Dan Cornell (3/44) made an early break through dismissing Hornchurch’s opener in the first over and followed this up with two more wickets in his first spell.
Tanay Mukherjee (1/15) similarly made a breakthrough in his first over leaving Hornchurch 4 down without much on the board. Hornchurch made a slight recovery before Charlie Hagger (1/43) dismissed Moaz Butt for 32. Hornchurch still looked in a promising position until Mo Baig (4/38) entered the innings picking up 4 wickets and halting Hornchurch to a respectable 204 ao in their 50 overs.
Chelmsford’s response looked steady with openers Jordan Campion and Paul Keaney battling away a good opening spell, punishing the bad balls and picking up a 42-run opening stand. Jordan Campion (18) dismissed when playing onto his stumps from Khan (3/57).
Two more quick wickets left Chelmsford in a tricky position. Paul Keaney (47) and Luke Wilson (51) anchored Chelmsford’s reply, the latter earning his first 4th team 50 in a match winning innings. With Keaney dismissed enter Pranav Sreedharan (36) who’s explosive quick-fire innings perfectly matched up with Wilson’s quick running to push Chelmsford closer to their target. Both set batsmen were dismissed leaving around 40 runs needed for victory. Tanay Mukherjee (17) and Mo Baig (16) worked the ball well while still finding the boundary to chase down the target with just under 2 overs to spare. Chelmsford 206/7 (43.1 overs)
5th XI vs Hadleigh & Thundersly 3rd XI (Home) – League.
Hadleigh 211/7 off 45 overs.
Chelmsford 122 all out from 33.4 overs.
Hadleigh win by 89 runs. (Hadleigh won toss and elected to bat first).
Hadleigh & Thundersly batting figures:
- Ian Harrison – 50.
- Ben Read – 28*.
- Justus Genthe – 26*.
- Joshua Faires – 24.
Chelmsford bowling figures:
- Beth Wright – 10 overs, 3 maidens, 34 runs, 3 wickets.
- Tom Hutchinson – 7 overs, 2 maidens, 31 runs, 2 wickets.
- Brian Kaludewa – 10 overs, 1 maiden, 44 runs, 1 wicket.
- Ben Lawrence – 12 overs, 1 maiden, 52 runs, 1 wicket.
Chelmsford batting figures:
- Brian Kaludewa – 39*.
- Tom Hutchinson – 24.
- Nigel Guy – 11.
- Matt Spinks – 10.
Hadleigh & Thundersly bowling figures:
- Ben Mascall – 9 overs, 2 maidens, 24 runs, 3 wickets.
- Justus Genthe – 6 overs, 2 maidens, 11 runs, 3 wickets.
- Alastair Graham – 8.4 overs, 1 maiden, 20 runs, 2 wickets.
- Joshua Faires – 4 overs, 0 maidens, 14 runs, 2 wickets.