Chelmsford Cricket Club Report for 13 & 14 May The league season got underway this weekend and Chelmsford’s first three sides pulled off victories. The first team edged a close one against Colchester. The seconds and thirds had rather more routine wins over Colchester and Walthamstow. The only team to buck the trend was the fourths but they achieved their first draw in three years of league cricket. The fifth team won their opening fixture of the season against North Weald to complete a rosy day. The Sunday was less successful, the Under-16s started their Matchplay campaign with a heavy defeat at Wanstead. The Sunday firsts drew their friendly with the Cricket Society and the Sunday seconds beat Goodmayes. The first and second teams did similar jobs in the field against Colchester, restricting their opponents to 166 for nine and 172 for eight respectively. The firsts lost early wickets but good batting from Neil Goodman and Neil Fergus got them back in the chase before Dammika Perera finished the job again. For the seconds David Thrift and Tom Iliffe ensured there were few alarms. Walthamstow’s third team was in good position with Baughan (53) and Quam (35) at the crease. Rupert Redman (3-21) set the skids under the innings though and they subsided to 143 all out, Mark Coups (3-33) also bowling well and amongst the wickets. A couple of silly run outs made things hard for Chelmsford but Jack Moss (48) and Peter Stock (28) helped see them to a four wicket win. Norris led the way for Walthamstow’s fourths, his 96 was the cornerstone of their 196 for nine. John Ninnian and Steve Pleasant claimed three wickets apiece. Adel Dewan (43) and Pleasant (31) had Chelmsford in a good position but Harris (4-65) undermined the middle order leaving Rajan Patel (32*) and Guy Balmford to play out a draw. Danesh Dewan bullied North Weald with a brutal innings of 55 and four wickets. Tom Witham (13) supported well with 37 in Chelmsford’s 157. Liam Thrift (3-14) was the other main wicket-taker as North Weald were bowled out for 102 in reply. Paul Jones and Steve Pleasant (38) got the Sunday first team away to a flier in their game against the Cricket Society. Jones was out after completing a high tempo hundred and after a brief flurry of wickets, Hyder Jeddy (20*) helped Chelmsford reach 220 for five. Mohammad hit 54 in the chase but the innings foundered against Keith Goodman (3-13) and Rob Hayto (3-31). The ninth wicket pair held out to secure a draw at 138 for eight. David Goddard led his young army to another victory with a well constructed half century. A good bowling effort restricted Goodmayes to 165 for five. Chelmsford passed that challenge for the loss of four wickets. The under-16s endured a nightmare defeat at Wanstead. The wicket was badly underprepared but on this evidence so were some of Chelmsford’s batsmen. A decent smattering of wides was all that enabled Chelmsford to reach 47. Wanstead found it hard going as Chelmsford generally bowled well but won by 6 wickets. Danesh Dewan and Chai Pandya were the wicket-takers. Reports & Scores Saturday 1st Team Shepherd Neame Essex League Division 1 Played at Chelmer Park Colchester 166-9 Chelmsford 169-9 (Chelmsford won by 1 wicket) Chelmsford started their league campaign with a nail biting win against Colchester. Chelmsford, bowling first made an early breakthrough when Perera was too good for the Colchester opener. Then a partnership of 100 with Russell (66) to the fore looked to have set up Colchester for a big finish to their innings. This wasn’t to be as Neil Fergus (2-69) and Eddie Lawrence (4-33) took wickets at important times and Colchester stumbled from 105-1 to 166-9. Fergus and Lawrence bowled well in tandem with great control and the Colchester batsmen had no reply to this. Chasing 167 for victory, Chelmsford knew they needed a good start. This didn’t materialise and at 36-4 Chelmsford were in serious trouble. Help was required from the middle order and Neil Goodman playing his first game for the club provided a much needed 48 off just 35 balls. He showed great power and strength with shots all around the ground. Goodman was supported well by Fergus (28). After Goodman’s dismissal, more wickets followed and Chelmsford looked in trouble at 138-8. Then with the match winning innings Dammika Perera hit a magnificent 43 not out. With the pressure on at times Perera showed great ability and looked very calm. With 2 runs to win with only the one wicket remaining, Perera clipped a 4 off his legs for the win and a fantastic start to the league season. Chelmsford showed superb character and team spirit and will look to keep the unbeaten run going away to Woodford Wells next Saturday. 2nd Team Shepherd Neame Essex League Premier Division Played at Castle Park Colchester 172-8 Chelmsford 174-4 (Chelmsford won by 6 wickets) David Thrift and Tom Iliffe played fine innings to lead Chelmsford to an opening day victory. In the field Chelmsford showed some excellent basics, hustling through overs and keeping the scoreboard under control. Perrin scored 57 before falling to the lively Chris Meer (1-15). Wickets started to fall as Colchester attempted to accelerate and Nigel Bond (3-54) and Neal Abhyankar (2-30) were the bowlers who were rewarded. Chelmsford were left with the best part of two hours and twenty overs to chase down 173. The pitch had something to offer bowlers but the batsmen were able to take their time, knowing what was required. Thrift started to play with some freedom before over-ambition ended his innings on 65. Abhyankar precipitated a slight collapse by changing early but Iliffe (80*) assumed complete control of the situation. Some crashing boundaries brought a swift conclusion to proceedings. Kunarajah (4-61) bowled well to claim all the wickets. 3rd Team Shepherd Neame Essex League Division 1 Played at Chelmer Park Walthamstow 143 all out Chelmsford 144-6 (Chelmsford won by 4 wickets) 4th Team Shepherd Neame Essex League Premier Division Played at Peter May Centre Walthamstow 196-9 Chelmsford 158-8 (Match drawn) 5th Team Friendly Played at Chelmer Park Chelmsford 157 all out North Weald 102 all out (Chelmsford won by 55 runs) Sunday 1st Team Friendly Played at Chelmer Park Chelmsford 220-5 The Cricket Society 138-8 (Match drawn) 2nd Team Friendly Played at Goodmayes Park Goodmayes 165-5 Chelmsford 166-4 (Chelmsford won by 6 wickets) Under-16s Matchplay Played at Snaresbrook Chelmsford 47 all out Wanstead 48-4 (Wanstead won by 6 wickets)