It was the best Saturday afternoon of the season so far for the club's senior sides with six wins and two "winning draws" as the club's strength in depth was shown across all of the day's fixtures. It was a great way to start the second half of the season and everyone will be optimistic that results and performances can stay at the same level from now until the end of the campaign.

At Upminster Park the 1st XI were held to a draw by second in the table Aztecs, but with Upminster picking up more points than their opponents and two of their nearest challengers losing, it was still a good afternoon. Aztecs skipper Suminda Balage Don, a familiar face to everyone at Upminster Park, won the toss and decided to field first, and he then had to watch Ian Russell and Kiran Kullar put on 50 for the first wicket. It was the skipper himself who made the breakthrough, having Rusell caught at deep mid off, before JJ Smuts joined Kullar in the most telling partnership of the afternoon. The pair added 111 in just 14 overs with Kullar in his most fluent form of the season, the opener making a run a ball 78 before he became a second victim to Balage Don. Balage Don claimed his third when Smuts was caught at deep mid-wicket for 71 and the visiting skipper had his fourth when Adam Wheater dragged one on for 14. Gus Philpot and Tom Daniels added 31 before Daniels was stumped but Upminster skipper Aaron Beard looked in good form as he found the boundary regularly including one maximum over long off that fizzed into the Stewart Avenue fence. Philpot reached his half century as Upminster looked to go past the 300 mark and Callum Berry showed his late power with 19 not out from just 10 balls before Upminster declared four overs early at 316-6, Philpot finishing unbeaten on 68.

A double strike from Nehal Butt at the start of the reply put Upminster further on top before Ashan Lokukatiya and Thanushka Dilhara Polgampala Polgampala Ralalage settled in and put on 50 for the third wicket. Veteran Shafiq Rahman made the breakthrough when he had Lokukatiya well caught by keeper Wheater for 41 and Wheater was involved again shortly after when he stumped Polgampala Ralalage off of Smuts for 30. Upminster were very much on top at that stage but Aztecs showed why they are in the hunt for promotion themselves as their batting dug in and made things difficult for the home side. Smuts and Rahman each struck again in quick succession as Upminster turned the screw but Saad Ali Baryar and Rahi Karim combined to keep their side in the game. Ali Baryar fell to Smuts for 55 and Smuts bowled Hamza Awan for nought to give Upminster late hope of forcing the win, but Karim stood firm to the end, finishing 61 not out as Aztecs ended on 227-8 meaning they took seven points and Upminster claimed 11.

The 2nd XI continued their recent good form as they had the better of a draw with leaders Chelmsford at Chelmer Park. Chelmsford asked Upminster to bat first but all of Upminster's powerful looking top nine then made double figures as the visitors looked to post a big total. Harry Jenkins (46) and Mit Shah (30) put on 67 for the opening wicket before Gus Siggins continued his recent good form with 31. Tom Halsey, who always seems to save a strong performance for games against Upminster, brought Chelmsford back into the game with two quick wickets but Pulkit Gupta showed his class with an excellent 71, before he to fell to Halsey, while Alan Ison, Aki Rahman, Stu Connor, Terry Wyatt and John Curtis all plundered late runs as Upminster went beyond the 250 mark. Halsey ended with 5-44 for the home side but Upminster would have been more than happy with their total of 270-9. Chelmsford looked to be moving into a good position at 69-1 but the spin of Gupta and captain Ollie Peck helped Upminster get back into the game as the home slipped to 134-6. Mohammed Baig brought up his half century as he looked to keep his side in the contest, and he got good support from Salman Ali who made 24 before falling to Peck, and although Upminster continued to push for victory the home side held out at 232-7 with Baig ending unbeaten on 108 and Peck finishing with 3-45.

The 3rd XI laid down a marker in the title race with a convincing win over morning leaders Harold Wood. Upminster put in their poorest performance of the season last weekend as they lost to Shenfiled but it was a different story this time out as they saw off Wood to take over at the top of the table. Upminster decided to field first and they were on top early on thanks to Ryan Oakes and Finley Tolan. Wood hit back though, and despite Oakes claiming four wickets and Tolan three the visitors were able to post 244 as they were bowled out in the last over. Ethan Berry made 15 at the top of the Upminster order before Dan SImpson (60) and Zoran Suneel (65) put Upminster in charge with a second wicket stand of 104. Wood fought back with Rana Moazzam taking three wickets, but Ross Taylor and Michael Pedrick stood firm and kept Upminster on course for victory. The pair added 61 as Upminster neared the finish line and although Taylor fell for 50 Pedrick (18*) remained to the end to see his side to a brilliant five wicket win. 

A brilliant bowling performance from Andrew Berry helped the 4th XI stay on course for promotion at South Woodford. Berry rolled back the years to claim superb figures of 5-29 from 16 overs as Upminster put in a commanding performance from start to finish. Zain Baig made 40 for South to briefly hold Upminster at bay but Lewis Munn then picked up 3-26 to put Upminster back on top as the home side were rolled out for 149. Steve Limn fell early in the Upminster reply before George Sheridan and captain Matt Ingleson knuckled down and put their side on top. South used eight bowlers to try and find another breakthrough but Sheridan and Ingleson were not going to be moved. Sherdian made a superb 75 not out and the captain finished 57 not out as Upminster won by nine wickets with more than 23 overs to spare.

The 5th XI stayed in the promotion hunt with a high-scoring win over Orsett & Thurrock at Coopers. The Upminster inning was a run-fest with 41 fours and 15 maximums being struck across the 40 overs. William Peck, Ian Munn, Stan Moore and Dylan Brooks all made good contributions to put Upminster into a good position but the carnage really began when Ollie Clarke and captain Adam Overton came to the crease. Clarke struck a brilliant 72 from 46 and that was followed by Overton smashing 71 from 35 as Upminster ran riot. There was still time for Ewan Lowrie to make a half century (55 from 35) as Upminster piled up 342-9, Sam Petch-Smith grabbing 3-55 for Orsett. Orsett were never likely to reach that total but they batted with great discipline and commitment to bat out their allocation of overs even if they knew for most of their innings that they would not win the game. Harry Bradford and Anay Narbheram nabbed two wickets each as Upminster restricted Orsett to 240-5 (these games are all overs format) meaning Upminster won by 102 runs despite 79 from Sushanta Kumar Mandal.

There is no doubt which side were involved in the game of the day as the 6th XI just about held their nerve to overcome Brentwood in Mid Essex League Division Nine. There had been nothing earlier in the day to indicate the excitement to come as Upminster batted steadily through their 40 overs. The innings was built around an excellent 72 from Harry Lawes in the middle order, and he received good support from Liam Robertson (32) as Upminster looked to set a challenging total. George Thompson and Luke Coleman took late wickets for Brentwood as the home side fought back and Upminster were bowled out from the final ball of the innings for exactly 200. Shrey Shah (3-28) and Aalok Latey (2-33) then put Upminster on top but Keyur Shah (56) kept Brentwood in the game as an exciting finish came into view. Brentwood needed 14 runs from the final two overs with one wicket remaining and when Ben Farren struck the first ball of the 39th over for six the game looked to be theirs. However, Aalok Latey restricted Brentwood to three more runs from the next five balls to leave Brentwood needing five from the last and Thomas Cargill conceded just three runs from the first three balls of that over. Cargill then bowled Farren for 24 from the next ball to give Upminster a win by just one run!!

A first senior half century for Harrison Simpson was the highlight of the afternoon as the 7th XI won at Southend on Sea & EMT. Simpson made an excellent 64 and that innings was backed up by a half century from Oscar Hayes (57) and 34 from Thomas Brabin as Upminster made 234-8. Southend's top order was then blown away by Hayes and Brabin before MIchael Jones produced an excellent spell of 4-8 in seven overs as the home side were bowled out for 97 to give Upminster a win by 137 runs. 

The Friendly XI recorded an excellent win at Shenfield 6th XI. Aiden McNeela was in great form with the ball for Upminster as he picked up 3-16 while Charles Allen-Monaghan claimed 2-22 to help put Upminster on top. Richard Hindley fought a lone battle for Shenfield with 71 not out and his innings helped lift the home side's total to 146. Upminster fell to 34-4 in reply but Matt Mcarthur and McNeela added 85 for the fifth wicket before McNeela fell for 18. Mcarthur was looking in fine form though and continued to take Upminster towards victory, ending on 83 not out as Upminster won by five wickets.