
It was a tough Saturday afternoon for many of the club's sides, but there were still some excellent individual and team performances along the way.
The 1st XI lost in the league for the first time this season as they were well beaten at Harold Wood. Wood won the toss and chose to bowl first and that decision was more than justified as Upminster fell to 38-6 with Shahbaz Khan and Ayush Shukla doing most of the damage. Captain Aaron Beard and the returning Nehal Butt led a mini recovery but when Beard fell for 17 and Butt for 25 Upminster were 88-9. Shafiq Rahman (15*) and Max Carter-Miller (24) put up a superb fight with a final wicket stand of 36 in 16 overs, before Upminster were finally bowled out for 124. Beard and Butt struck early in the Wood reply to give Upminster hope but Aayush Baluja (36*) guided the home side to a seven wicket win.
An excellent game at Upminster Park ended with the 2nd XI drawing with their Wood counterparts. Upminster decided to bowl first having won the toss but they may have regretted that over the following two and half hours as George Bryant and Robin Singh took full advantage of the conditions. Wood's opening pair began slowly but gradually wore down Upminster's bowlers to put their side into a strong position. Bryant was first to reach three figures before falling for exactly a hundred before Singh soon joined him in reaching the landmark before he fell for 107, both men falling to the returning Alan Ison (2-79). Ricky Cooper then smashed 61 not out from 30 balls as Wood were able to reach 288-2. The Upminster chase didn't begin well as they slipped to 28-3 but Ison and Gus Siggins got Upminster back in the game with a stand of 66 before Siggins fell for 32. Ison and Stu Connor kept things moving and looked to be putting Upminster into a good position when Ison fell for exactly 50 but Zoran Suneel gave Connor good support to keep Upminster in the game. Suneel went for 37 but Connor remained and brought up an excellent haf century as the run rate required was kept at around 8.5 an over. Connor finally fell for 63 but John Curtis and Fin Tolan continued to take the fight to Wood with a stand of 38 for the ninth wicket. Upminster needed 31 from the final three overs when Tolan fell and Curtis (28*) and skipper Ollie Peck had to bat out for the draw as Upminster ended on 265-9.
The 3rd XI stayed in the title race with a nail-biting win over neighbours Hornchurch at Cromer Road. Upminster skipper Dan Simpson asked Hornchurch to bat first and the home side saw Stan Murray, Mo Khan and Myles Wells all make good contributions to help put their side into a solid position. However, two wickets each for Tom Young, Aedan Daly and Ollie Clarke helped Upminster to get back in the game before home captain Joe Defreitas countered once more as Hornchurch looked to set a challenging total. It looked like they were heading towards something well over 200 until Dylan Narbheram stepped in for Upminster. Narbheram continued his excellent season with 3-12 as Hornchurch were bowled out for 194 with nearly ten overs not used. Defreitas ended 45 not out. Simpson made 29 at the start of the Upminster reply but at 98-4 the game was very much in the balance. Arun Kullar and Joe Brooks then compiled what turned out to be the match winning partnership as they added 53 for the fifth wicket. Both players fell with the score on 151, Kullar for 69 and Brooks for 27, and when two further wickets fell quickly things were on a knife edge at 163-8. Ewan Lowrie and Aedan Daly kept their nerve though, and the two youngsters saw Upinster to a two wicket win as they went second in the table.
Another fine innings from Ethan Berry helped the 4th XI to stay top of the table with an excellent victory over Hutton 3s at Coopers. Earlier in the day it had been visitors' batter Alex Holloway who had dominated proceedings as he made a brilliant 131 from just 79 balls before he was removed by Rob Mack. There was though a lack of support from elsewhere in the batting order meaning Upminster were able to stay in the game, and with veteran Michael Jones claiming 4-65 Hutton were restricted to 231-9, Berry looked in fine form at the top of the Upminster innings but wickets fell around him as Hutton began to get on top with Upminster falling to 95-4 and 124-5. Berry was keeping his side in the game as he found the boundary regularly and it looked like he was on course for his second century of the season until he fell for 87 with Upminster still needing 83. Fenton Everingham and Joshan Narbheram both batted well to put Upminster on top but when Narbheram fell for 37 Hutton may have felt they were favourites before Harry Bradford and Everingham added a crucial 22 for the eighth wicket, and when Bradford fell Jones used all his experience to help Everingham see Upminster home as they won by two wickets, Everingham ending 31 not out.
The 5th XI fell to defeat in an excellent game against Harold Wood at Campion. Veteran Stewart Hammond and youngster Will Peck combined to great effect with an opening stand of 116 which put their side on top early on, but after Hammond fell for 64 Wood came back into the game. Peck went on to make 62 and after he fell it was left to fellow youngster Dylan Brooks to try and take Upminster to a big total. He made 42 but after he fell only Lewis Munn and Aadit Latey (20*) made double figures as 5-38 from Wood's Mohammad Hassaan Rehman saw Upminster restricted to 221-9. Ryan Brown (3-24) produced a fine opening spell at the start of Wood's reply before Shaurya Kumar made 53 to put Wood on top. Upminster bowled with good discipline to stay in the game but Zeeshan Jan made 62 to take his side to the verge of victory and the visitors went on to win by four wickets with just four balls to spare.
There was a heartbreaking finish for the 6th XI who produced an excellent display at Chelmsford Super Kings before missing out by the narrowest of margins. Upminster's youthful attack (five of the six bowlers used were 14 or under) all bowled superbly with Jack Butler, Oscar Sousanna and Ralph Moore all picking up two wickets apiece. Vipin Kesavadas and Edwin Abraham both made 24 for CSK but they were restricted to 155-9. Abraham then picked up 4-8 at the start of the Upminster chase to put his side on top and when the visitors slumped to 76-7 the result looked inevitable. However, Sanjay Narbheram and Sousanna didn't give up and they slowly brought Upminster back into the game. The pair had added 58 before Sousanna fell for 23 and when Narbheram fell shortly after for a brilliant 45 it looked like their efforts would all be in vain. Butler and Woody Treadwell showed great composure and maturity to take the game to the last over where seven were needed and then with three needed from two balls for victory Upminster lost their final wicket to lose by just two runs.
The 7th XI continued their good form with a fine win against Ilford Catholic at Barkingside Rec. Oscar Hayes was the star of the show with the ball for Upmiinster taking 4-17 to rip apart the Catholic's top order. Bhargav Reddy Resapu hit back for Catholic with a fine 60 in the middle order, but wickets for Karim Govani, Eddie Waters and Chris Brabin meant Upminster were left with a target of 143. Chris Brabin, Harrison Siimpson and Joshua O'Sullivan made a solid start to the reply as Upminster reached 75-2 before Hayes, Max Malby and Max Bird all added some impetus to the innings with double figure contributions. It was then left to skipper Don Triggs and Anotidaishe Chifamba (20*) to take Upminster to a four wicket win with just over three overs to spare.
The Friendly XI lost an excellent game against good friends Herongate & Ingrave. Aidan Leung picked up four wickets for Upminster, and Aiden McNeela grabbed two, but 89 from Dunn saw Herongate make 217. Upminster lost early wickets but Kevin McNeela went on the attack to get Upminster back in the game.McNeela Snr got good support from son Aiden and the father and son duo began to get Upminster on top with Kevin bringing up his half century. McNeela Snr eventually fell for a brilliant 92, but Aiden helped take his side to 192-7 before Upminster lost their last three wickets for 10 runs as they were bowled out for 202 to lose by 15 runs.