Chelmsford Cricket Club Report for 1 & 2 July, 2006 England’s World Cup exploits provoked a selection crisis for cricket teams everywhere, but Chelmsford rallied with two league victories. The biggest result was the 1st team’s successful run chase against Fives & Heronians, securing their position at the top of Division One. James Redman’s first fifty for the firsts and a five-for for Eddie Lawrence provided the highlights of a close game. The 2nd team were also involved in a tight and successful run chase, but unfortunately were not the ones chasing. 11 points were secured, but losing to bottom-of-the-table Fives & Heronians was a disappointing result even with a weakened side. A weakened side did not bother the 3rd XI, who marched relentlessly on with a demolition of Westcliff. Simon Balmford and skipper Barry Clayden provided the backbone of a challenging total of 232-5. The home side were bowled out for just 117 in reply, with youngsters Imran Akhtar, Craig Thompson and Anthony Holland impressing with the ball. It was the 4th XI who paid the penalty for the poor availability as they suffered a heavy defeat at the hands of Wanstead. A strong Wanstead side bowled out Chelmsford for 124 and chased the total for the loss of just one wicket, ensuring the home side took no points at all from the game, slipping into the bottom half of the Premier in the process. 13-year-old Jack Sterland provided hope amongst despair carrying his bat for an incredible 69 not out on his league debut. Chelmsford will be hoping to nurture Jack’s obvious talent in years to come. Stand-in captain Dickie Davies masterminded another thrilling win for the 5th team in their friendly against Nazeing. Charlie Navesey (2-11) and 12-year-old Adi Vohra (3-34), the latter playing his first adult match, helped limit Nazeing to 145-7. A team batting performance hunted down the total, with runs coming from Hyder Jeddy (30), Mark Witham (26), Tom Halsey (19) and Davies himself (16 not out). On Sunday, Chelmer Park hosted a close victory for the Under-13s in the Peter Coe Cup. A good team performance enabled Chelmsford to beat a useful Wanstead outfit by 7 runs. The 1st team comfortably beat Hornchurch Athletic in a routine friendly. Mark Drain’s aggressive half-century and a destructive early spell from Rupert Redman led the way. The Sunday 2nds had their game cancelled, but the pseudo-3rd XI recorded a win over Benfleet. Adil Dewan (69), John Smith (31) and Steve Pleasant (41*) helped Chelmsford post 202, before Umrish Pandya returned to form with 7 wickets to skittle out Benfleet cheaply. Reports Saturday 1st July 1st Team Shepherd Neame Essex League Division 1 Played at Chelmer Park FIVES & HERONIANS 169 all out CHELMSFORD I 172-8 (Chelmsford won by 2 wickets) The regular first team players will be running out of nails if the season continues in this vein. Chelmsford edged another tight finish with Eddie Lawrence and James Redman the inspirations. Stevens got Fives off to a good start with some positive strokeplay. Lawrence applied a brake and the pressure grew, eventually resulting in a misguided call that saw Stevens run out for 49. From there the innings never really got going. Lawrence continued to cause problems and picked up three wickets and a brave spell from a clearly injured Dammika Perera (2-29) saw off two more. Britten (28) profited from an aggressive approach but was one of two victims for Matthew Poole (2-39). Lawrence replaced Perera and removed the last two to complete a well-deserved five-wicket haul at a cost of just 38. Fives were dismissed for a seemingly inadequate 169; a generally excellent fielding display helping the bowlers to achieve this. With several players missing it seemed to be important that the regular players knuckle down. That didn’t happen; a couple of soft dismissals and a couple of unlucky ones and it was the all too familiar sight of Chelmsford forty-odd for four. This was the opportunity for James Redman to show what he was capable of and it proved pretty impressive. Redman and Neil Fergus began to turn the game around and by the final twenty overs the heads had gone down on the fielding side. The fall of Fergus (34) at 101 reignited hopes and another wicket went shortly thereafter. Ian Hare and Redman combined well but a few tight overs tempted Redman into an indiscretion, ending his innings at 53 – his maiden half-century at this level. The singles seemed to dry up, but Hare calmed nerves with some boundaries until fraying them again by getting out with 3 to win. Lawrence and Poole inched Chelmsford home. An excellent team spirit again helped Chelmsford to record a win without both their best team and their best performance. 2nd Team Shepherd Neame Essex League Premier Division Played at The Paddock CHELMSFORD II 237 all out FIVES & HERONIANS 238-7 (Fives & Heronians won by 3 wickets) Despite battling bravely for periods of the game, Chelmsford were left to regret lapses in concentration as relegation candidates Fives & Heronians edged a close game. A superb 58 by maestro Martin Daniels gave the visitors a good start after being put into bat on a very hot day. However, pressure caused by the tight bowling of Shoaib Iqbal (who conceded just 1 run from his first 6 overs) meant wickets fell regularly, until Darren Thompson (42) and skipper Andy Rycroft put on 97 for the 5th wicket. Rycroft’s run-a-ball 65 was typically bullish, but after his dismissal Chelmsford lost their impetus. The tail failed to wag and a potential 250-plus total petered out to 237 – due in part to Shoaib (2-41) and Rehan Iqbal, who finished with excellent figures of 5-53. Distracted by the football, Chelmsford were, at first, poor in the field. The introduction of Nigel Bond brought the important wickets of Apps and Palmar (both 47), but figures of 2-98 reflected the batsmen’s dominance. Things changed with 15 overs to go, as a fiery spell from Chris Meer got Chelmsford back into the game. Zain Iqbal was a key scalp, out for 59. Wickets continued to fall as Fives panicked, but it was a case of too-little-too-late for the visitors, even though the final run was hit with only two balls to spare. Meer finished with 4-42. 3rd Team Shepherd Neame Essex League Division 1 Played at Westcliff CHELMSFORD 232-5 WESTCLIFF 117 all out (Chelmsford won by 115 runs) After much hard work by Bob and DG we travelled to Westcliff with a full complement of players consisting 7 colts and 4 adults. A change of tactics saw us bat first to accumulate as many points as possible. The loss of Adil Dewan to an early run out did nothing to settle our nerves but Imran Akhtar (24) showed a positive intent from the start. He played very well in a partnership of 50 before ’walking’ for a caught behind. Simon Balmford then proceeded to play in his usual forthright manner whilst Barry Clayden anchored the innings. Their partnership registered 106 before Clayden was plumb LBW for 77. Steve Bond strode to the crease and immediately upped the tempo. Good running and fine striking saw a further partnership of 42 before Balmford (73) succumbed to exhaustion. We were then entertained by an outstanding knock from 14 year old Lee Cranmer who played some excellent shots in his 21no before he deprived Bond of his fifty by running him out for 47. Starting with the old ball, Chelmsford had instant success when ImranAkhtar (3 –38) bowled their opener for 0. A Khan (18) played positively before being well caught by Steve Drain off Craig Thompson. We opted for an all spin attack and Anthony Holland (2-38) took a wicket in his first over. Only M Potter (24) and P Lowry (32) showed any signs of permanence as the spinners, backed by good fielding, kept the batsmen under pressure. One blow too many to Simon Balmford at short leg initiated the taking of the new ball and Craig Thompson (2-24) and Steve Bond (1-24) quickly finished the innings with the help of two astonishing catches at slip by Anthony Holland. 4th Team Shepherd Neame Essex League Premuier Division Played at Chelmer Park CHELMSFORD 124 all out WANSTEAD 125-1 (Wanstead won by 9 wickets) 5th Team Friendly Played at Chelmer Park NAZEING 145-7 CHELMSFORD 146-6 (Chelmsford won by 4 wickets) SUNDAY 1st Team Friendly Played at Hylands Park, Hornchurch HORNCHURCH ATHLETIC 106 all out CHELMSFORD 107-4 (Chelmsford won by 6 wickets) A predominantly youthful Chelmsford Sunday first team made short work of their opposition in a really encouraging performance. Rupert Redman (3-18) and Alistair Fergus (2-19) exploited a lively pitch to decimate the top order. Teenage spinners Anthony Holland and Imran Akhtar were left facing a harder task against Athletic’s overseas player Londis. He crashed 32 with some big hits but the youngsters held their nerve and Holland was rewarded with his wicket. The lower order also managed some decent blows but could only get the score up to 106. Akhtar finished with three for 37, Holland two for 32. The Chelmsford chase looked rocky at 31 for three but Mark Drain steadied the ship and eventually pummelled the bowling. The last 20 runs took just 5 balls with a big 6 to end proceedings and take Drain to 57 not out. Under-13s Peter Coe Cup Played at Chelmer Park CHELMSFORD 145-5 WANSTEAD 138 all out (Chelmsford won by 7 runs) Chelmsford’s under-13s just about held their nerve in an exciting finish to gain the impressive scalp of Wanstead. Chelmsford’s innings was based around two good partnerships between James Raeburn and Jack Sterland (28) and Raeburn (34) and Sam Hollingsworth (30). A score of 145 for five from 30 overs was reasonable but on a fast outfield it would take a good effort to defend it. A couple of early wickets helped things and a middle order collapse seemed to put Chelmsford in the ascendancy. At 79 for seven, it seemed certain to be Chelmsford’s day. Sanghi though played well with good support and dropped chances hardly helped the Chelmsford cause. With the last wicket pair together and 8 needed from 9 balls there was a dreadful mix-up. Tom Witham kept his head to engineer a run out and end the game. Glen Swinney, Adi Vohra and Joe Matthams all took two wickets for Chelmsford.