The 1st XI set the tone for the rest of the club at the weekend with a convincing win over Belhus at Upminster Park on Saturday. Having been asked to bat first Belhus actually made a solid start to the day, reaching 59-1, but when Callum Berry ran out Ryan Wells the visitors' innings began to unravel.   The spin trio of JJ Smuts, Jeevan Singh and veteran Shaffiq Rahman all picked up two wickets apiece as Belhus crumbled, and with Jamie Green also picking up a brace, Belhus were dismissed for exactly 100. Captain Pulkit Gupta was in no mood to hang about as the Upinster reply began, finding the boundary regularly as Upminster raced towards their target.  WIth Mo Ahmad (21) for company Upminster were soon closing in on victory and Gupta brought up his half century to move Upminster to the brink of 20 points.  JJ Smuts was with his captain at the end as Gupta finished unbeaten on 63 as Upminster won by nine wickets with more than 35 overs to spare.

It was a very different story for the 2nd XI as they stumbled over the line but picked up the win at Epping.  Epping laboured to 166 all out in the last over of their innings and Upminster started well with occasional opener Ollie Peck looking in good form.  However, Peck's departure brought about a bit of a collapse and Upminster's ninth wicket pair needed to keep their nerve to see their side over the line with just three balls to spare.

The 3rd XI lost back to back games for the first time since August 2022 as they fell to defeat against Brentwood at Coopers.  Upminster made a solid but somewhat laboured start to their innings and then lost a cluster of wickets to fall to 79-4 before Adam Quested and Sam Twine began to move things forward.  Twine fell for a breezy 36 from 37 but Quested and Rob Mack continued to improve the situation with Quested soon bringing up his half century.  Quested fell for 66 with just three overs of the innings remaining but Mack and Ryan Oakes used the last few overs well to lift the score 178-6.  Andrew Berry then rolled back the years with a fine opening spell to leave Brentwood 34-3, but Richard Walford (40) and J Patel (63) put on 70 to put the visitors in charge.  Stan Moore's spell of 2-51 then left Brentwood 138-6 to leave the game finely balanced, but Luke Brailey and the experienced Dave Balroop kept their nerve to see their side to a four wicket win.

Another fine all round performance from the 4th XI saw them to a second consecutive victory at South Woodford as they climbed to fourth place in the table.  Shrey Shah (3-34) produced an excellent opening burst to keep the South top order in check and then spin twins Kevin Roome and Nathan Brown worked their way through the middle-order.  Brown ended with 3-38 but 61 from Delwar Hussain and an unbeaten 46 from Omar Masood meant the home side were able to make a competitive 217-8.  Matt Ingleson (39) and Mit Shah (33) got the Upminster reply off to an excellent start and Ian Munn and Ethan Berry then combined to push their side into a good position. Munn brought up a brilliant half century and with Nathan Brown and then Joseph Brooks for support Upminster were cruising to victory at 195-5 before the captain fell for 59 and his side soon found themselves 197-8!! Ben Hamberger and Dylan Mansell were left with the responsibility to see their side home and Mansell's huge six eased the tension somewhat.  With last man Roome waiting nervously in his pads the ninth wicket pair kept their heads to see Upminster to a fine two wicket win.

Tom Young was the hero for the 5th XI as they won at Ilford and climbed to third place in the table.  Young took five wickets, including a brilliant hattrick, to help his side to a convincing 107 run win over Ilford at Valentines Park.  Earlier in the day Stew Hammond batted the entire innings to make a defiant unbeaten 69, and with support from Ollie Hinton (27*), Michael Pedrick, Thomas Cargill and Leo Fezvi Hunt, Upminster posted 180-3 which always looked a good total on a tricky pitch.  Harry Bradford and Ewan Lowrie picked up two wickets each for Upminster, but it was Young who stole the show with his late heroics to secure Upminster's win. 

Some late heroics from Thomas Brabin and Harry Coles nearly saw the 6th XI to a famous win against Stanford Le Hope 4s, before they eventually fell to a 13 run loss.  Sir Don Triggs continued his excellent start to the season with a spell of 8-3-7-1 to put Stanford in trouble, but 56 from Kenyon and 32 not out from Copp helped the visitors to recover.  Ollie Ward and Chris Brabin picked up two wickets apiece as Stanford closed on 151-7.  When Upminster fell to 49-7 and 71-8 it was looking like a familiar story for Ray Calder's side, but Brabin and Coles combined and took up the fight.  Brabin struck five fours and two maximums to bring up a run a ball fifty but he was unfortunately dismissed soon after.  Coles was then given good support by Triggs and it looked like they may see their side home before Coles was dismissed for 27 to give Stanford the win.

The Mid-Essex XI suffered a loss to Ilford Catholics 4s despite some promising performances.  Last week's hero, Ollie Dignam, picked up two more wickets this time out, but Catholics recovered from 118-4 to post 246-4 thanks to an unbeaten fifth wicket stand between Karan Shah and Andrew Hudson.  Upminster slipped to 10-3 in reply but Paul Burley and Mike Larke put together a half century stand.  Both men fell to leave Upminster back in trouble but Ed Knight made an excellent 42 and received good support from Fin Tolan as Upminster made a fight of things, before eventually being all out for 140.  

The Friendly XI put in another good performance before losing out to Hornchurch at Coopers.  Freddie Williams made a well constructed 44 and received good support from Ralph Moore (22) as Upminster made 122-9.  Kaushik Patel made 52 not out at the start of the Hornchurch reply (before retiring) but three wickets from John Oakes and two for Moore kept Upminster in the game before the visitors got home by five wickets.

A brilliant 61 not out from Coco Thomas, who batted the entire 30 overs, helped the Women's 2nd XI to victory over Galleywood and saw them move to the top of the Division 3 table.  Thomas struck eight boundaries in her innings and with good support from Kara Smith Upminster made 188-4 at Coopers.  Galleywood showed plenty of spirit in their reply, but an excellent all round bowling display from Upminster, including two wickets for Caitlin Smith and a first senior wicket for Maisie Briggs, saw the visitors restricted to 116-7 and Upminster pick up a win by 72 runs.

There is plenty of action today (Bank Holiday Monday) including the 1st XI in T20 action at Brentwood (1.00pm) and a number of our girls and women's sides taking part in the softball festivals at Belhus CC.