It was one of the most positive Saturday afternoons the club has enjoyed this season, with four wins and a draw coming from the seven league games played.

The drawn game came at Upminster Park as the 1st XI held out against Springfield. Upminster decided to bowl first upon winning the toss, and an early run out gave them a breakthrough, before Aarav Salil and Matthew Trim took the score to 79-1. Gus Philpot removed Trim for 25 but Joseph Freestone and Salil added a further 69 for the third wicket to put the visitors into a good position. Salil brought up his century as Springfield passed the 200 mark, and although he eventually fell to Nehal Butt for 116 Freestone upped the run rate on his way to 73, before he also fell to Butt. Springfield had looked like they would post a score of nearly 300 at one stage, but with Aaron Beard picking up two late wickets Upminster pulled things back before Springfield declared two overs early at 266-7.

Kiran Kullar and Mo Ahmad once again gave Upminster an excellent start in reply, as they put on 83 for the first wicket, but when Kullar was removed for 51 the home side stuttered and fell to 104-3. Ahmad remained, and he and Tom Daniels got their side back on track with a stand of 62, but with the run rate required climbing Daniels fell for 20 and he was quickly followed by Aaron Beard and crucially Ahmad who went for an excellent 87. Lee Brooks (5-49) was doing the damage for the visitors, and despite double figure contributions from Philpot and Ollie Burley, Upminster found themselves nine wickets down with nearly six overs remaining. With no chance of a home victory Ross Taylor and Shafiq Rahman were forced to hold out for the draw, and they did this as Upminster closed on 223-9.

The 2nd XI came agonisingly close to a win at Brentwood, eventually losing by one wicket. When Upminster fell to 31-3 it didn’t look like a tense afternoon would be in prospect, but Callum Berry and Gus Siggins helped to rescue the innings with a fourth wicket stand of 117. Berry was striking the ball cleanly to all parts of the ground, and looked set to go all the way to three figures before he was bowled by Luke Bircumshaw for 83 from 65 deliveries. Siggins was dismissed by the same bowler for 44, but Adam Quested and Terry Wyatt (33) kept Upminster moving towards a competitive score, before Rob Healy (23) added further runs. At 223-6 it looked like the visitors would post a score in excess of 260, but a late clatter of wickets saw them eventually bowled out for 244. Bircumshaw claimed 3-54 for Brentwood while Hugh Fisher and Mohsin Rehman also picked up three wickets. Rehman (52), Gabe Austin (40) and Ralph Pedersen (63) took Brentwood to 108-1, but Berry and Scott Simmons then took four wickets between them for one run as the home side slumped to 109-5. Pedersen held things together, and with support from Stalin Kurian and Harry Hobson put Brentwood back in control. When Simmons removed Pedersen and Jamie Green picked up two quick wickets the home side were nine wickets down and still needed 21, meaning Upminster were now favourites. However, Rhys Chapman and Hugh Fisher held their nerve, just, and Brentwood scraped to the narrowest of victories.

A brilliant century from Rob Mack, his first ever for the club and his third of the season in all cricket, helped the 3rd XI stay in the title race as they won at Harlow. Harlow had earlier elected to bat having won the toss, but at 18-2 it looked like the home side had made an error of judgement. However, Arshad Muhammed and Mashood Iqbal countered in style with a brilliant third wicket stand. The pair put on 238 with Muhammed being forced to retire on 111 and Iqbal going on to finish unbeaten on 120. Ryan Oakes claimed three wickets for Upminster, but Harlow finished on 266-4. Dan Simpson and Steve Limn both got starts for Upminster at the top of the order, but it was Mack, batting at number three, who took control of the chase. He combined well with Michael Pedrick before the rest of the middle order struggled against Simon Baulcomb and Ronnie Fuller. At 176-6 the game was very much in the balance, but Mack found another willing partner in Alex Ward. The pair took Upminster towards victory with Mack bringing up three figures from 104 deliveries. The left hander was finally dismissed for 102, before Ward and Ryan Oakes took Upminster to the brink. Oakes fell with just a handful of runs needed, but Ward finished 34 not out as the visitors won by two wickets.

Stan Moore and Nathan Brown were the stars of the show as the 4th XI picked up a crucial win against Frenford 3s at Coopers. Frenford had reached 81-1 when Brown stepped in to break a stubborn second wicket partnership, and he then proceeded to run through the visitors’ batting. The off-spinner produced a brilliant spell to claim 6-50 as Frenford were bowled out for 205 from the last ball of their innings. Will Frost made a fast start to the Upminster reply before being run out and a second wicket brought Moore to the crease to join captain Matt Ingleson. While Ingleson dropped anchor Moore was in fine form and found the boundary with regularity as the partnership began to take shape and put Upminster on top. Moore reached his half century and was closely followed to that landmark by his skipper as the home side closed in on victory. Just 13 runs were needed when Ingleson was run out for 68 but Moore soon brought up his first ever ton and he ended on 106 not out from 92 balls as Upminster won by seven wickets with nearly ten overs to spare.

The 5th XI fell to a heavy defeat against Billericay 4 at Campion. Captain Aalok Latey was in fine form with the ball for Upminster, claiming two early wickets on his way to eventual figures of 4-40, but Ricay recovered from those two early losses through Manu Sethumadhavan and Thiyagarajan Krishna Moorthy. Sethumadhavan made 90 before becoming the captain’s third victim, and Krishna Moorthy reached 87 before falling to Aadit Latey as the middle order pair put their side on top. Upminster fought back in the later overs of the innings, but the visitors’ total of 262-7 was a good one. George Sheridan and Matt Burch got the Upminster reply off to an excellent start, but they then collapsed from 46-0 to 66-6 as Kevin Hastings and Satvik Manu claimed three wickets each. Thomas Cargill and Jack Hayward stopped the rot and looked to be getting their side back on track before Hayward’s departure signalled another collapse. Cargill battled to the end, finishing on an excellent 53 not out, but his side were bowled out for 138.

The 6th XI ensured they will be playing in Mid Essex League Division 8 next season as they beat Southend on Sea & EMT by seven wickets at Southchurch Park. Upminster’s six strong attack all bowled well throughout the innings, with Keya Shah, Thomas Brabin and Harry Bradford claiming two wickets each, and Chris Brabin picking up 3-38. Mark Howard, Glen Norfolk and Shaleem Ejaz all made good contributions as Southend recovered from 77-5 to post 180-9. Upminster fell to 1-1 in reply before Ray Calder and Thomas Brabin put on 86 for the second wicket, with Brabin making an excellent 52 from 57 deliveries. Calder was then given good support by Bradford and the two ran well between the wickets to keep the scoreboard moving until Bradford fell for 29. Matthew Castellette then teamed up with Calder as Upminster closed in on victory and the pair kept the run rate required under control. Calder reached his half century as Upminster neared the finished line and ended on 60 not out, with Castellette unbeaten on 28, as Upminster won with more than two overs to spare.

An extraordinary innings from Joe Hibell helped the 7th XI to their best result of the season as they beat promotion chasing Chelmsford Super Kings at Writtle College. An Upminster side containing eight junior players bowled and fielded well earlier in the day to restrict CSK on an excellent wicket. Sanjay Narbheram claimed 2-49 while Woody Treadwell picked up 1-28 and the rest of the attack retained their discipline throughout. Jinesh Thottath (52) and Kannan Ekanath (41) put their side into a strong position before Upminster fought back, but a late 70 not out (from 44 balls) from Ranjit Pillai helped the home side to post what looked to be a formidable 244-6. When Hibell strode to the crease to join Anay Narbheram with the Upminster reply at 10-2 in the eighth over there was no sign of the carnage to come. Hibell and Narbheram put on 81 in just nine overs before Narbheram fell for a well made 26 and then Ralph Moore settled in to support Hibell. Hibell continued to find the boundary and keep the required run rate at just under seven an over while Moore worked the ball around well to give Hibell the strike. Moore fell to Franklin Daniel-Balan (3-50) for an excellent 35 and at that stage 79 were needed from 13 overs. Hibell and Max Malby added 26 to keep Upminster moving and Hibell soon brought up his first ever century, from just 76 balls. Archie Lowe showed a cool head to keep feeding Hibell the strike but having just cleared the fence to reduce the runs required to 19, the centurion was caught on the line and departed for 124 from 92 deliveries. A run a ball was required from the last three overs for Upminster, and that was no problem for Sanjay Narbheram and Lowe who took Upminster to a four wicket win with eight deliveries to spare.