Upminster 1st XI continued their title winning form with an another close victory on Saturday against Harold Wood. Despite being 41/4, Upminster rallied again thanks to Shahbaz Butt (83) and Harry Jenkins (57*) to set Harold Wood 227 to win. Not for the first time this year, Connor Whetstone and Matthew Tigg took the majority of the wickets with Connor picking up 3-37. Harold Woods last wicket pair frustrated the Upminster bowlers by putting on 53 for the final wicket but when John Curtis had Richard Brabner out caught by Harry Jenkins, Upminster sealed the victory by 13 runs.

Upminster 2nd XI fell to a disheartening defeat to a strong Colchester side over Upminster Park on Saturday. On a flat, hard Upminster pitch, Colchester racked up 279/8 of their 45 overs. Billy Wright and Nicky Ison both picked up two wickets each with James Evans also producing a special piece of fielding to run out the Colchester No.3

Even though Upminster got off to a strong start with Rob Waghorn (59) and James Aggio-Brewe (39) putting on over 100 for the 2nd wicket. Oliver Peck came in at No.6 and smashed the Colchester spinners to all parts of the ground, even the Pokemon Go players stopped looking at their phones to watch. His efforts was in vain though, as Upminster fell 25 runs short.

Jordan Tigg returned to form on Saturday as the 3rd XI recorded an overdue victory away to Brentwood. Jordan carried his bat through the 45 overs but fell an agonisingly three runs short of his maiden league ton. Brentwood were dismissed for 164 with captain Mark D’Cruz showing signs of being over his fitness issues, taking 4-30 off his 10 overs.

It was a story of too many starts for the 4th XI batsman as they failed to set a winnable total. Bussey, Lamont, Daniels and Rohan Mayor all scored between 24-38 but no-one could go on and get the big score required. Hainault and Clayhall chased down 199 in 42.5 overs. Nathan Bright once again picked up three wickets to continue his excellent form.

Paul Middlemiss made his much anticipated return on Saturday and immediately got back to where he left off with a sublime 56. Alex Halliwell (32) and Michael Larke (31) were the other main contributors to the 5th XI total of 190. It was never enough though as Wanstead 6th XI chased down the total in 35.2 overs with only Ryan Brown impressing with the ball as he took a brace.

It was the familiar tale of another poor batting performance for the 6th XI on Saturday as they failed to chase down 106. The bowlers did a superb job of skittling Walthamstow for 105 with George Sadek and Sohail Iqbal both taking three wickets. Seventeen was the top score produced by two Upminster batsman but after 27.4 overs, Upminster were bowled out in return for 80.

It was a tough day in the field for the 7th XI over Brentwood School as their 5th XI notched up 322/7 in 40 overs. In reply, the 7th XI made a very respectable 232/8 with Will Frost scoring 60*. Sam Knowles also made 35 and Matthew Bright scored 33.

The Sunday league XI picked up their second straight win against Waltham at Loughton CC on Sunday. Oliver Heazel top scored with a glorious 51, with Julian Whetstone (42) setting the platform at the top of the order. Waltham came firing out the blocks and were either smashing the ball into local peoples Mercedes or finding ways to get out. Louis Pickering and Nicky Ison both picked up two wickets with five other bowlers also taking one as Waltham were bowled out for 165.

Upminster Sunday 2nd XI chased round leather for 40 overs as Rayleigh smashed 308 in their 40 overs. Alex Fisher (45*) and Dave Brown (40) put on a 76 run partnership which was the highlight of Upminster’s reply of 208.