It was another promising performance for the 1st XI on Saturday, but ultimately another loss, this time to high flying Hutton at the Polo Ground. Farid Butt and Kiran Kullar got Nicky Ison’s side off to a solid start and while Farid fell for 27, Kullar went on to make an excellent half century. Shabz Butt and Louis Pickering then added some impetus in the middle overs as the visitors looked to set a challenging total, but when they fell the lower middle order struggled and Upminster eventually ended up on 226 all out, with seven balls not used.

John Curtis struck twice at the start of the Hutton reply to leave the promotion chasers 7-2, but ex Upminster man Julian Whetstone and overseas star Vivian Paver constructed an excellent third wicket partnership. Whetstone was removed by Ollie Peck for 54, but Paver remained and with Daniel Hagger and Joseph Parry took his side to a six wicket victory. Paver finished on 104 not out. Scorecard

The 2nd XI picked up an exciting win over Colchester and East Essex at Upminster Park. Put into bat, Upminster made an excellent start with Jordan Tigg (72) and James Evans (63) both passing half centuries as the pair shared 136 for the first wicket. When they both fell the innings slowed a little, but Shaffiq Rahman (40 not out) and Nathan Woods (28) enabled the home team to reach 244-4 from their 45 overs. Mark D’Cruz struck twice at the start of the Colchester reply, but the visitors kept up with the run rate in the first 20 overs of the chase. Upminster kept picking up wickets though, and an excellent spell from Shaffiq of 2-14 from his nine overs put the squeeze on the North Essex side. Kieran Savill made an unbeaten 50 to push the home side all the way, but Billy Wright’s men held their nerve pick up an excellent 12 run win. Scorecard

Josh Lamont’s 3rd XI ended Brentwood’s 25 match unbeaten run with an excellent performance at Coopers. Tom Larke and Oliver White picked up three wickets apiece to take out the Brentwood top order, and despite an unbeaten 29 from Ashley Medell, Lamont claimed two victims to help restrict the league leaders to 145-9 from their 45 overs. Upminster were soon three down in their reply before the captain and veteran Pete Thompson joined forces to get Upminster back in the game. Lamont made an excellent 67 before being dismissed by Medell, but Oliver White held his nerve to see the home side to a two wicket win with four balls remaining. Scorecard

It was yet another heartbreaking defeat for the 4th XI, as they lost out by two wickets at Billericay. All of the top five got starts for the visitors, with Mark Hortop’s 28 proving to be the top score. Greg Hammond claimed 4-34 for the home side as Upminster made a challenging 178-9 from their 45 overs. Ricay were reduced to 78-6 in reply with Kevin Roome and Michael Jones producing excellent spells, but Hammond and Matthew Elliot got Ricay back into the game. Will Frost removed Elliot and followed it up with another wicket, but Hammond remained and made an unbeaten 58 to see his side to victory. Scorecard

The 5th XI lost out in a high scoring encounter at South Woodford 4s. Captain Karim Govani led the way for Upminster, as he so often does, with three wickets, but 61 not out from Awais Ashraf and 51 from Rizwan Javed helped South to make 238-from their 40 overs. Upminster lost three early wickets as they chased down the total, before Alex Bottoms and Trey Collinge got them back in the contest. Collinge fell for 59 and although Bottoms batted to the end for an excellent 74 not out, Upminster finished on 210-5 to fall to a 28 run loss. Scorecard

There was also a high scoring defeat for the 6th XI as they fell to Walthamstow 4s at Campion. Casey Adams (57) and Jake Eade (25) laid a solid platform for Ray Calder’s men before the returning Tom Langston (63*) and the captain himself (29*) pushed the total to 237-5 from 40 overs. Langston and Brian Martin then struck early in the Stow reply, but Shahid (75) and Hussain (79) saw their side to victory in a remarkable 29 overs!!! Scoreacrd

Sunday also saw a closely fought contest at Upminster Park, but a loss, for the Sunday League XI against SMTCC. Only Nabeel Aziz looked at ease for Upminster, and his 48 was the top score out of 164 all out. Nicky Ison struck three times early in the SMTCC innings and Tom Daniels then did the same to take out the middle order but SMTCC rebuilt with an excellent 8th wicket partnership. Louis Pickering and Jordan Tigg then struck to leave SMTCC nine down, but they scrambled over the line with nine balls in hand. Scorecard