
It was a mixed afternoon for the club's women's sides on Sunday while the Sunday League XI picked up a comfortable win to stay in top three contention.
At Upminster Park the Women's 1st XI welcomed Billericay and it was the visitors who made a strong start having won the toss and decided to bat first. Former Rainham batter Imogen Stretton and Francesca Howgego took their side to 164-2 and seemingly heading towards a huge total before Harri Goodey got Upminster back in the game with what would turn out to be a match-winning spell. Goodey's 4-23 put Upminster in charge and she managed to claim the prize scalp of Stretton, although not before the opener had made a brilliant 111 from 97 balls. Only Amrit Kaur offered much resistance from the visitors' lower order as Ricay' were bowled out for 183, their last eight wickets falling for just 19 runs. Goodey and Emma Black made a blistering start to the Upminster reply with the pair adding 72 in just 11 overs before Goodey fell for 30 but Paige Roche joined Black and looked in good form as the pair kept the scoreboard ticking over. Black fell to Violet Harmer (2-17) for 66 as the visitors tried to get back in the game but Roche and Dani Cox ensured there would be no slip-ups for Upminster. Both batters fell just before the end, Roche for 45, but Upminster coasted to a five wicket win with more than six overs to spare.
A remarkable tenth wicket stand from Orsett & Thurrock's final pair denied the Women's 2nd XI a much needed win at School Lane. Orsett won the toss and asked Upminster to bat first and despite six batters reaching double figures captain Angela Green's 21 not out was the top score. Emma Poskitt claimed 3-17 for Orsett while Green and Claudia Brunt added what looked for most of the afternoon to be a crucial 27 for the final wicket. Lauren Plumb and Jami Armes produced fine opening spells as Orsett fell to 7-4 in reply before Ella Allen and Laura Reader steadied the ship for the home side. Plumb (4-24) and Maisie Coles kept taking wickets to keep Upminster on top but Reader was in fine form and looked to be taking her side to victory before she was ninth out for 63, falling to Kanchan Tyagi. At that stage Orsett were 101-9 and Upminster looked set for victory before Sarah Fergey and Becky Cook calmly knocked off the 32 runs needed to give their side a one wicket win.
The Sunday League XI stayed on course for a top three finish with a comfortable win at Buckhurst Hill. Upminster batted first upon winning the toss and there were half centuries for Kiran Kullar and Stan Moore as well as good contributions from the in-form George Sheridan, captain Ollie Burley, Michael Pedrick, Liam Robertson and Zoran Suneel. Ramesh Jain claimed 2-42 for Hill but Upminster's total of 330-7 was an imposing one. Jamie Green and Ryan Oakes picked up two wickets each in the home side's reply, and although youngster Jun-Le Shukla made an excellent unbeaten century Upminster went on to win by 118 runs.
There were a number of junior games which took place throughout the day with wins for the U12 Ultras and U12 Girls and a loss for the U10 Ultras.