After a slow start to the season, in terms of weather, availability and results, Upminster enjoyed a brilliant Saturday afternoon as six of their seven sides picked up victories. Hopefully it will be a sign of things to come for the months ahead.

Leading the way were the 1st XI who saw off Gidea Park and Romford in the local derby at Upminster Park. With Beau Webster in the Upminster side, and the sun shining throughout the afternoon, a healthy crowd were present to see Upminster's victory. Webster and the ever-reliable Pulkit Gupta got Upminster off to a fine start and they reached 81-1 in the 12th over before a mini collapse saw the home side fall to 111-4. James Evans and Muhammad Ahmad rescued the situation with a stand of 84 before some late hitting from Tom Daniels helped lift the total to 256-9. Shavawn Cunningham picked up 4-49 for the visitors.

Ollie Todd quickly removed both Park openers to leave them 14-2, but Mahmad Alikhail and Jamal Francis fought-back with a stand of 92. Shafiq Rahman removed Francis to give Upminster the breakthrough and when Ahmad removed Alikhail Upminster took control. Ahmad went on to claim 4-47 and despite an unbeaten half century from Cunningham, Upminster picked up a 65 run win.

The only defeat of the day came at Shenfield, as the 2nd XI continued their search for a first win of the season. Upminster batted first and at 71-1 and 111-4 there was no real sign of what was to come. Rahul Seedhar and Jack Newton then ran through the Upminster middle and lower order to bowl out Nicky Ison's side for 138. Ison and John Curtis then reduced Shenfield to 34-4 and the game was in the balance, but a fine 62 not out from Newton saw the home side to a five wicket win.

The 3rd XI put in their best performance of the season to see off Harold Wood and move towards the top of the Premier Division table. Steve Lim and captain Dan Simpson put on 81 for the first wicket and Simpson went on to make 51 to help put his side into a strong position. Adam Quested (58 not out from 44) and Alex Ward (47 from 24) then took advantage of the solid start to accelerate Upminster to a total of 246-6. Wood made an equally good start to their reply, but both openers were then removed by the evergreen Kevin Roome as Upminster began to take control. Wood struggled as the run rate increased, and Sam Twine came on to claim 4-12 as Wood were dismissed for 175.

There was a first win of the season for the 4th XI, as they beat Wickford 3s at Wickford Memorial Park. Upminster batted first and with conditions not conducive to fast scoring Ian Munn's side had to battle hard for runs. Munn himself made a determined 59 from 82 balls before Ross Taylor played the most telling innings of the day as his 40 not out from 23 balls took Upminster to 200-7. Wickford slipped to 33-3 in reply but a half century stand between Sam Spooner and skipper Paige Roche kept the home side in the game. Roche was run out for 23 before Nathan Brown then picked up four quick wickets, including three in an over, as Wickford collapsed to 97-9. Opener Spooner remained, and was eventually last man out for a battling 47, as Wickford were dismissed for 124.

The 5th XI kept up their excellent early season form with a win over their Wanstead and Snaresbrook counterparts. The Upminster innings was an extraordinary one with only two batters making double figures. Fortunately one of those batters was Alex Bottoms who made 67 and the other was Nathan French who played absolutely superbly before cruelly being out for 99. Rai Prajwal picked up 5-7 for the Herons, but Upminster's total of 242-8 looked a good one. If the Upminster batting performance had been very reliant on just two players then the bowling effort was the opposite. Seven bowlers were used, with six of them all picking up one wicket as Wanstead were restricted to 166-6.

Ray Calder's youthful 6th XI picked up their first win of the season with a fine performance at Billericay 5s. U14s Ethan Berry and Fenton Everingham were the pick of the Upminster attack with two wickets each, but it was very much an all round team effort that helped restrict Ricay' to 194-9. Upminster looked in trouble as they lost two early wickets in reply, but Berry and Ian Twine, with more than 50 years age gap between them, got things back on track. Berry fell for 32 and Twine for 51, but Everingham and fellow youngster Thomas Cargill then helped steer their side to a five wicket win.

The 7th XI were in action for the first time this summer, and they started off with a win over Ilford Catholics' 5s at Coopers. Upminster's side contained four players making their senior debuts, but an excellent all round effort with the ball saw Catholics' bowled out for 182. U13 bowlers Zach Lawes, Ollie Dignam and Hashim Choudry all picked up two wickets each for the home side. Ryan Brown and Freddie Williams got the Upminster reply off to a great start before Williams fell for 31. Brown however was in fine form, and went on to bring up his first ever ton for the club. He retired unbeaten on 102 and it was left to Adnan Malik and Kai Bannister to steer their team to an eight wicket win.