After a promising first week, it was a much harder second Saturday for Upminster’s SNEL sides. At Upminster Park Ollie Peck’s 1st XI were well beaten by Shenfield. After falling to 11-2 James Evans and Shahbaz Butt took Upminster to 77-2 and they looked set to build a challenging total. However, Evans fell to former England spinner Monty Panesar for 36, and when Butt followed soon after for 34 Upminster collapsed. Terry Wyatt was the only other player to reach double figures, and Panesar finished with 5-39 as the home side were bowled out for 126. In reply Louis Pickering picked up two early wickets to give Upminster some hope, but the experienced Jack Kliber made an unbeaten 57 and Jack Potticary finished not out 54 as Shenfield cruised to an eight wicket win. Upminster face a vital game against Gidea Park and Romford in their next encounter. (Scorecard)

Shenfield also had the better of the 2nd XI fixture at Chelmsford Road, but Upminster dug in to secure a draw. Six of Shenfield’s top seven made double figures as they built a sizeable total, but Mark D’Cruz (2-53) and Nicky Ison (4-69) bowled superbly to stop the home side running away with things. With five overs of the innings to go it looked as though Upminster might restrict their opponents to a manageable score, but Jack Newton hit 5 fours and 5 sixes in an unbeaten 56 as Shenfield struck 72 in the last five overs to finish on 291-7. Paul Middlemiss and Dan Simpson (35) helped Upminster to move to 56-1 in reply but they kept losing wickets at vital times. Ison followed up his four wickets with a patient 26, but it was left to Josh Lamont (28) and Arun Kullar (19 not out) to use up a lot of the final hour as Upminster battled to save the game. Lamont fell before the end but Kullar remained and Upminster finished on 192-8. (Scorecard)

The 3rd XI followed up their opening day win over Harold Wood with a draw against Woodford Wells at Coopers. The game was a repeat of the final day of the 2018 season when the two sides faced off in a title showdown that Upminster won to claim the title. Upminster batted first again this time, and nine of their batsmen made double figure scores. Pete Thompson made 49 and Rob Mack continued his good form with 34 before a late unbeaten 22 from the captain Ollie White took them to 207-8 at the end of their 50 overs. Duncan Richards then made 70 from 76 balls as he and Albert Morgan (40) took Wells to 99 without loss in reply. Max Carter Miller (2-34) removed Richards, and Ant Limn (4-51) then began working his way through the Wells middle order as Upminster sensed victory. It was not to be though as Wells batted out their overs to finish on 166-7. (Scorecard)

Old Southendians 3s came out on top against Stewart Hammond’s 4th XI at Shoebury Park. The Captain made 28 and Stu Connor made 21, but Chris Sorrell and Chris Dove bowled well to keep Upminster under pressure. Enter Luke Williams, who came in at number eight and struck a marvelous 64 to push Upminster up to a challenging total of 155. Sam Hodgson got the Old Boys reply off to a good start but Karim Govani dismissed him for 27 and Upminster kept picking up wickets to keep the pressure on. When the seventh wicket fell with more than 30 still needed it looked like they may take the points, but Sorrell and Stanley Cornwell kept their nerve to see their side to a three wicket win. (Scorecard)

The only winners of the day were Alex Bottoms’ 5th XI, who swept aside Shenfield 4s at Campion School to take the points. The wickets were shared between Michael Jones, Harvey Daniels, Shreyansh Shah, Vishal Sharma and Aalok Latey as Shenfield were dismissed for 68. Rafe Smallman (42*) and Ray Calder (18*) wasted no time in reply as they saw Upminster to a ten wicket in 15 overs. (Scorecard)