Hornchurch were victorious in Saturday's League Cup derby at Upminster Park, but home captain Alan Ison will be pleased with many aspects of his side's performance and will be looking forward with renewed confidence to the league programme which begins next week.  One highlight in recent weeks has been the form of Tom Daniels, and that continued this weekend as he and fellow youngster Kiran Kullar put on 76 for the first wicket.  Both men fell in quick succession to halt Upminster's progress, but the young opening pairing have shown signs already this term that a good season lies ahead.  Wickets tumbled quickly after the openers had gone and despite double figure contributions from Nehal Butt, Harry Jenkins and James Aggio-Brewe the home side stumbled to 156 all out.  Ison, Butt and Aggio-Brewe all struck early in the Hornchurch reply as the Premier League side were reduced to 41-3, and at that stage the game was in the balance.  Hornchurch skipper Billy Gordon was joined by Merv Westfield and the two began to repair the damage for their side.  Both men started slowly but with the run rate not an issue they were able to settle in and then began to push on towards victory.  Gordon finished not out 40 and Westfield was unbeaten on 60 as Hornchurch won by seven wickets with nearly ten overs in hand.  Upminster begin their league campaign with a home game against Ilford next Saturday.

The 2nd XI continued their excellent pre-season form with a commanding victory over 2019 Premier Division champions Hornchurch at Harrow Lodge Park.  Having won the toss and decided to bat, eight of Upminster's top nine made double figures with captain Nicky Ison making a brilliant 63 and Ollie White 43.  Some late hitting from Sam Twine and Ellis Pickering took the visitors score to 252-7 from their 40 overs.  Hornchurch started their reply well but the captain's introduction into the attack turned the game Upminster's way.  Ison's off-spin picked up 5-32 from his eight overs, and with Pickering and Rohan Mayor claiming two wickets apiece the home side were bowled out for 129. 

There was a first defeat of the season for the 3rd XI as they finished their pre-league season matches with a narrow defeat at Hutton.  Paul Middlemiss (52) and Dan Simpson gave Upminster a good start and Tom Hilson kept things going with a breezy 25.  However, the middle overs did not work out as planned for Upminster despite a number of double figure scores, and they somewhat stumbled to a total of 201-7.  Henry Hodgson got the Hutton reply off to a flying start and although Upminster kept picking up wickets Hodgson's 88 put his side in charge.  Upminster captain Andy Berry picked up three wickets for his side and youngster Jamie Green claimed two late scalps but Hutton got home by four wickets with 12 balls to spare.

The 4th XI were well beaten by Wanstead & Snaresbrook at Coopers School.  The visitors piled up 240-3 from their 40 overs, with Harry Bradford the pick of the Upminster attack.  Captain Ian Munn got his side's reply off to a good start with 44, but when he fell his side were up against it and despite valiant efforts from Nathan Brown and Harry King Upminster finished on 163-9.  The two sides meet again at Coopers on the opening day of the league season next weekend.

There was a win for the 5th XI in their match with Brentwood.  Brentwood batted first and made a solid start before a good all round bowling display from Upminster, with two wickets apiece for Ryan Oakes, Don Triggs, Graeme Lawes and senior debutant Joshan Narbheram, saw the visitors fightback.  A late rally from the home side saw the total rise to 145.  The experienced Triggs then made a solid 46 in his side's reply before an excellent unbeaten 48 from youngster Ross Taylor saw Upminster to a six wicket success.  

The Sunday Friendly XI lost out in an excellent match with Benfleet.  Callum Berry made 50 and Ollie White made 44 not out as Upminster reached 194-7.  Kevin Roome and Sam Twine then claimed two victims each but 54 from John Bull helped Fleet to a two wicket win.