After 20 years without a competitive game, Upminster's ladies marked their comeback with a stunning victory over Wanstead and Snaresbrook on Sunday afternoon. Vicky Waters' side put in a tremendous performance to beat an experienced Wanstead side by nine wickets.

Waters won the toss and asked the visitors to bat first and Wanstead made a solid start as they reached 24 without loss. However, the introduction into the attack of Zoe Quested and the captain herself turned the game around. Quested returned remarkable figures of 5 for 6 from her four overs while Waters picked up 2 for 6 to help put her side on top. The captain also produced an excellent piece of fielding to run out Madiha Sattar as Wanstead collapsed to 50-8. The last two wickets put up some excellent resistance to push the score upwards, but Sam Harvey claimed the last wicket as the visitors were bowled out for 79.

If the Upminster side were nervous about the chase it didn't show as Quested and Georgia Hayes got the reply off to a flying start. Quested had reached 22 when she fell victim to an excellent catch at mid off but Harvey joined Hayes and kept the scoreboard moving. Hayes struck six boundaries on her way to 33 not out and Harvey finished on 16 not out as Upminster reached their target with more than nine overs to spare.

Scorecard

Upminster will travel to Berkshire side Binfield in the second round. Binfield beat Harrow by two wickets this afternoon in their first round encounter.

Best of luck to Wanstead and Snaresbrook for the rest of the season.