Chelmsford Cricket Club Report for 10 & 11 June It was rather a mixed weekend but with 4 wins from 7 games, it was still fairly positive. The firsts and thirds pulled off excellent wins and both sit on top of their leagues. The 2nds and 4ths suffered their first defeats of the year. On Sunday, the under-16s had a good win and the firsts started the league campaign with a win. An accomplished all-round performance from James Arnold was the highlight of the 1st team’s win at Upminster. Arnold claimed his first 5-wicket haul at this level and contributed with the bat; Paul Jones’ 81 was the cornerstone of a successful chase. The seconds suffered a dreadful middle order collapse at home against Loughton. Shot out for just 154, they lost by 6 wickets. Solid batting from David Goddard and Steve Bond steered the thirds to their fourth win from four played. An excellent bowling display had seen Billericay muster just 103, with tyro spinners Anthony Holland and Imran Akhtar taking 4 and 3 wickets each. An early wobble was converted into a 6-wicket win. Andy Thurston’s unbeaten 50 saved the fourths from total disaster at South Woodford. Thurston and Bob Shortman (28*) converted 100 for eight to 184 for eight. Runs for Mailin (60*) and Shirt (75) enabled South Woodford to complete a fairly routine victory. Unfortunately the competing attraction of football caused the fifth team’s opposition to let them down. Imran Akhtar’s productive weekend continued on Sunday. He contributed 68 to the under-16s 84-run victory over Hainault & Clayhall. Paul Jones also continued his good results. His 70 and 57 from Gary Chidley helped the Sunday 1st team achieve a 20-run win over East Essex. Nigel Bond (3-28) and Toby Hughes (2-35) were the key bowlers. The Sunday 2nds put Little Baddow’s bowlers to the sword. James Stock hit a century and Lee Cranmer a half-century in Chelmsford’s 207 for 2. Rupert Redman, Craig and Darren Thompson and Jonathan Smith all claimed two wickets but Little Baddow held out for a draw at 158 for eight with Buckwell making 52. Reports and Scores Saturday 1st Team Shepherd Neame Essex League Division 1 Played at Upminster Park Upminster 223 all out Chelmsford 226-7 (Chelmsford won by 3 wickets) Chelmsford moved to the top of the league with a hard-fought win at Upminster on Saturday. 18-year old James Arnold was the star as he took 5-57 from 13 overs in the first innings and scored a crucial 25 not out with the bat as Chelmsford chased down 223 to win. Bowling first on a sweltering day, Chelmsford reduced Upminster to 60-6. This was thanks mainly to a fantastic burst of seam bowling from Arnold, which included 3 wickets in one over, two clean bowled, as the top order was ripped out. Dammika Perera bowled with good pace and little luck but still picked up 2 wickets in his initial 10 over spell. As the heat took effect, Chelmsford wilted with Upminster’s lower order showing good ability and application. O’Dell (64) proved to be a thorn in the side as he shared in three valuable lower order partnerships. Frustrations grew as the total climbed. Arnold returned to claim a well-deserved 5-for and Perera bowled with great heart to finish with 3-72. Ian Hare (1-32) bowled steadily and Simon Evans was unlucky not to take a wicket in his first spell. It took the introduction of Matt Poole (1-0) to take the final wicket at 223. Despite being faced with a total greater than anticipated, with short boundaries and a good track, Chelmsford were confident and set off at a decent tempo. Paul Jones, although not at his best, was to provide the backbone to the innings with excellent contributions from Neil Goodman (30), Martin Daniels (21) and Simon Evans (25) that kept up the scoring rate. With wickets falling regularly, however, there were still 45 runs required at 6-an-over. Arnold joined Jones and batted positively to take Chelmsford home. Jones finally fell just 2 runs short of the target for a hard-earned 81. It was left to Hare to hit the winning runs. With Woodford Wells losing, Chelmsford sit pretty at the top of the table and entertain Chingford at Chelmer Park on Saturday. 2nd Team Shepherd Neame Essex League Premier Division Played at Chelmer Park Chelmsford 155 all out Loughton 156-4 (Loughton won by 6 wickets) Chelmsford’s second team suffered a middle order nightmare in a dispiriting defeat by Loughton. The pitch was difficult for batting but having reached 50 without loss, Chelmsford would have hoped to push on. The openers fell shortly after that landmark and the middle order disappeared in a rush with Auld (5-19) wreaking havoc. Chris Meer and Nigel Bond made contributions but it was only some profitable slogging from Neal Abhyankar (30*) that took Chelmsford past 150. The Chelmsford bowlers were similarly below par. Wilden (43) was top scorer as Loughton achieved the target with 6 wickets in hand. 3rd Team Shepherd Neame Essex League Division 1 Played at Chelmer Park Billericay 103 all out Chelmsford 105-4 (Chelmsford won by 6 wickets) England’s first World Cup match on Saturday occupied the minds of our opponents, Billericay, who requested an 11.00am start. We could not accommodate this but won the toss and they batted first to allow their players to watch the telly! Another fine performance in the field restricted the early run rate as Billericay struggled to 60 for 3 from 27 overs. Jack Moss bowled an excellent spell taking 1 for 9 from his 6 over allocation whilst Chandra Gholap generated good pace and bowled an excellent line in his spell of 9 overs, 2 for 17. Our two young spinners, 15 year old Anthony Holland (4 for 29) and 16 year old Imran Akhtar (3 for 18) then destroyed the Billericay batting taking 7 wickets between them in just 14 overs. It is a pleasure to see talented youngsters performing so well in senior cricket. They will agree that were assisted by fielding of a high standard in the sweltering heat. Youngster M Paternoster (3 for 27) caused some consternation as he reduced Chelmsford to 32 for 3. However, ‘Mr Dependable’ Dave Goddard oozed class as he steered us to victory in an unbroken stand of 50 with Steve Bond (21 no). Chelmer Park looked excellent in the sunshine but it was disappointing to be confronted with a ‘two paced’ pitch that made batting difficult when a run feast was anticipated. 4th Team Shepherd Neame Essex League Premier Division Played at South Woodford Chelmsford 184-8 South Woodford 186-4 (South Woodford won by 6 wickets) Sunday 1st Team Indivijewels of Essex Sunday League Played at Basildon & Pitsea CC Chelmsford 212-8 East Essex 192-8 (Chelmsford won by 20 runs) Chelmsford started the league season with a hard-fought win over East Essex. An unlucky early wicket brought Paul Jones and Gary Chidley together and they shared a big partnership. Chidley (57) was quickly into his stride but Jones (70) ultimately began to take control. The last few overs saw wickets fall to check momentum. Perera (30) provided most of the runs with some high hitting. A final total of 212 from the 40 overs was a decent return though. A Abbas took four for 43 for the hosts. After a steady start, East Essex began to pick up runs quite freely with Sangani dominant. Keith Goodman managed to put a leash on the scoring and this was followed up by good spells from Nigel Bond (3-28) and Toby Hughes (2-35). Once Chidley held a fine catch to end Sangani’s innings at 74, Chelmsford had a grip on the game and didn’t let it go. 2nd Team Friendly Played at Chelmer Park Chelmsford 207-2 Little Baddow 158-8 (Match drawn) Under-16s Essex Matchplay Played at Chelmer park Chelmsford 187 all out Hainault & Clayhall 103 all out (Chelmsford won by 84 runs) When Chelmsford lost a couple of early wickets, there must have been deja vu about the recent batting frailties of the under-16s. Zain Panjwani (46) and Imran Akhtar (68) dug in though and were able to generate a respectable score. Danesh Dewan (36) also contributed well to the total of 187. The bowling remained in pretty good fettle, keeping things tight when not taking wickets. Dewan with three for 5 and Jack Moss, three for 16 were the main wicket-takers, with the visitors dismissed for 103.