Chelmsford Cricket Club Report for 17 & 18 June Despite the first team going down to a heavy defeat, there was much to celebrate this weekend. Every other team won their game and there were some memorable individual performances, chief amongst them Matt Thurston’s unbeaten 183 for the Sunday firsts and Glen Swinney’s six wickets including a hat-trick for the under-13s. Chingford scored a heavy victory over Chelmsford after scoring 226 for seven. Odedra followed up a century with three wickets as the reply ended at 128. After a whirlwind start by Ilford, fine bowling from Nigel Bond and Stuart Everard restricted the second team’s opposition to 154. David Thrift’s 82 helped make light work of that target. The third team match was over before tea. Another good bowling display from Imran Akhtar saw him pick up five wickets in Harold Wood’s 79. Barry Clayden and Darren Thompson secured a ten-wicket win. It was a much harder chase for the fourth team but they pulled it off, beating Hutton by 3 wickets. Hutton totaled 240 for six, Morey (81) and Harris (58) leading the way. Adel Dewan (32) and Peter Stock (92) got Chelmsford off to a good start but Parry (4-56) was making things difficult. Zain Panjwani (60*) showed a good temperament and pedigree to see his side home. Lee Cranmer continued his tremendous run with 66 not out for the fifths as they swept aside Liberty Casuals. Matt Mills and Ali Panjwani took three wickets apiece in Liberty Casuals innings of 144. Cranmer had good support from Stephen Drain (35*), with Chelmsford winning by eight wickets. Matt Thurston dominated the Sunday first team’s game at Hadleigh & Thundersley. His brilliant innings helped Chelmsford record 318 for five from 40 overs. A dispirited Hadleigh were bowled out for 139, Keith Goodman taking four wickets. Darren Thompson’s fine 124 not out for the Sunday seconds was rather overshadowed by other games but was nevertheless a significant show. Chelmsford ran out winners by 105 runs over Goodmayes in that fixture. Chelmsford’s under-13s won their first Peter Coe Cup fixture of the year, beating Bentley by 55 runs. Captain Glen Swinney took six for 15, including a hat-trick with Bentley all out for 72 after Chelmsford’s 127-8. Reports & Scores Saturday 17 June 1st Team Shepherd Neame Essex League Division 1 Played at Chelmer Park Chingford 226-7 Chelmsford 128 all out (Chingford won by 98 runs) A poor Chelmsford performance and defeat to Chingford on Saturday saw them slip to second place in the table. Chelmsford were left comfortably second best to Chingford after a below par performance which ended with the home side skittled for just 128 runs, chasing 227. Some good early pressure from Chelmsford restricted Chingford to 106-4 at 29 overs. Odedra was to provide the obstacle for Chelmsford, however. A fine innings of 110 not out took Chingford to a good total of 226-7, which was ultimately to prove too much for Chelmsford. All the bowlers toiled hard in the hot conditions, particularly Eddie Lawrence (3-83 from 20 overs). Matt Poole (2-56) and Ian Hare (1-49) were also in the wickets. Chingford fully exploited the pitch which offered some help to the spinners and took two early wickets to leave Chelmsford in trouble. Captain Paul Jones joined Duncan Paveling and relieved some pressure with some counter-attacking. Jones (27) and Paveling (23) fell in quick succession which left Chelmsford with a lot to do. Gary Chidley, making his first team debut showed great composure and no little ability in making an assured 27. Dammika Perera (21) hit some fine shots before being dismissed for 21, which left Chelmsford only with hopes of salvaging a draw. This proved beyond them as wickets continued to fall. Still second in the table, Chelmsford will hopefully put this blip behind them with an improved performance at Westcliff on Saturday. 2nd Team Shepherd Neame Essex League Premier Division Played at Valentine’s Park Ilford 154 all out Chelmsford 158-3 (Chelmsford won by 7 wickets) A disciplined display from Chelmsford saw them record a comprehensive victory from unpromising beginnings. Nawaz (35) and Ahmed (32) exploded out of the blocks, cracking 67 from the opening seven overs. Two overs later, both were out but the rest of the top order wanted to follow suit and gave up their wickets being needlessly aggressive. From 80 for four Ilford tried to regroup but Nigel Bond and Stuart Everard bowled superbly. Helped by some keen fielding, the bowlers established a stranglehold and the odd wicket fell as frustration got the batter of the batsmen. Ditta (40) held things together but was generally shackled and was last out in the fiftieth over with the score at 154. Bond bowled 23 overs to take three for 42, Everard 16 in his four for 32. Those two also combined for a run out. David Thrift and Martin Daniels got the chase off to a good start, fine shots combined with a masterclass in taking singles. Ilford had a brief glimmer of hope when Daniels was out for 32 but spurned a couple of chances. Thrift, in particular and Andy Rycroft played with increasing authority until falling for 82 and 32 with less than ten needed. Chris Meer and Rob Hayto completed a very satisfying win. 3rd Team Shepherd Neame Essex League Division 1 Played at Harold Wood Harold Wood 79 all out Chelmsford 80-0 (Chelmsford won by 10 wickets) The 3rd X1 continued their good form overwhelming second placed Harold Wood as they won by 10 wickets. Harold Wood’s danger men both fell for ducks playing expansive shots to leave them 3 for 2. They were never able to recover as Mark Coups (2 for 6) and Jack Moss (3 for 17) bowled with excellent control and applied pressure on all batsmen. Another fine performance in the field saw Danish Dewan and Steve Bond take good catches. The star of the show however was Imran Akhtar who continues to bowl beautifully and he fully deserved his figures of five for 30 from 11 overs of teasing off spin. We were assisted by the fair play of the opposition as two tight stumping decisions were given by player umpires. Harold Wood were all out for 79 from 38 overs. With tea not available we started our reply against an opening attack of ‘Alas Smith and Jones’. Although not ‘joke’ bowlers, they lacked penetration and Darren Thompson soon took a liking to them. Only third change bowler Walker posed any threat as Thompson (45no) and Barry Clayden (31no) coasted to victory in only 20 overs. 4th Team Shepherd Neame Essex League Premier Division Played at Chelmer Park Hutton 240-6 Chelmsford 241-7 (Chelmsford won by 3 wickets) 5th Team Friendly Played at Chelmer Park Liberty Casuals 144 all out Chelmsford 147-2 (Chelmsford won by 8 wickets) Sunday 18 June 1st Team Individjewels of Essex Sunday League Played at John Burrows Recreation Ground Chelmsford 318 - 5 Hadleigh & Thundersley 139 all out (Chelmsford won by 179 runs) A superlative batting display by Matt Thurston saw Chelmsford romp to a comprehensive victory in their Sunday Essex League match against Hadleigh & Thundersley. Chelmsford won the toss and elected to bat and Thurston and Gary Chidley began carefully against the accurate opening attack but began to up the tempo against the change bowling. After 20 overs, the halfway point, Chelmsford were well placed for acceleration at 100 for no loss. Chidley (34) was dismissed soon after this and the rest of the innings was about Thurston who showed great shot selection to take advantage of the short boundaries. This allowed the supporting batsmen to go for their shots seeing a total of fifteen sixes with Neil Goodman (14), Rob Hayto (19), Dammika Perera (17) and Simon Evans (30 not out) all clearing the boundary at least once. Thurston, however brushed all opposition aside to finish with an astonishing 183 not out including 18 fours and nine sixes. The result was a mammoth total of 318-5 Chelmsford knew that Hadleigh had some early batting strength but not too much support so it was important to make early inroads. 37-0 quickly became 45-4 as Evans took three wickets in one over and Keith Goodman took the vital wicket of Gandhi. From this point, apart from some strong blows by Revell (38), Chelmsford's bowlers remained on top and a comfortable victory was achieved in the 33rd over. Goodman finished with 4-32, Evans 3-45 and Perera 2-23. To round off his day in style, Thurston took over the wicket keeping duties due to an injury to the normal 'keeper and took three neat stumpings. 2nd Team Friendly Played at Chelmer Park Chelmsford 230-4 Goodmayes & Blythswood 125 all out (Chelmsford won by 105 runs) The Sunday seconds ultimately proved too powerful for a spirited Goodmayes. Darren Thompson’s well compiled 124 helped Chelmsford to a commanding total of 230 for four. Jonathan Smith (49) and Dave Goddard (42) provided useful support. Richards (1-28) was the pick of the Goodmayes attack. Goodmayes’ reply got off to a bad start and in spite of an adventurous and entertaining innings from Deekrakige (35), they sumbled to 125 all out. Decent spells from Ali Panjwani (3-22), Alistair Fergus (3-21) and Barry Hetherington (1-33) enabled Chelmsford to complete the win with some comfort. Under 13s Peter Coe Cup Played at Bentley Chelmsford 127-8 Bentley 72 all out (Chelmsford won by 55 runs) A fine bowling and fielding performance allowed the under-13s to beat Bentley for the third time this year. Once again, the batting slightly misfired in the face of well disciplined bowling. The total of 127 from 30 overs was full of useful cameos with James Raeburn, Glen Swinney, Jack Sterland, Tom Witham and Sam Cornforth all making contributions. By third over, Chelmsford had already conceded more wides than their opponents but a direct hit run out by Sterland changed the mood. Tom McGraw (2-9) impressed on his debut and by the end of his spell, Bentley were under real pressure. Glen Swinney increased the pressure with some tidy overs and a couple of wickets including Hardy for 22. Navin swung him for two fours but Swinney gained revenge as he bowled him with the last ball of his fifth over. Wickets with the first two balls of his next over saw real excitement from the boys at the prospect of a hat-trick, demonstrating their usual awareness as that feat had already been achieved. The match finished in that over, Swinney taking six for 15, with Bentley 72 all out.