Gidea Park won the toss and put Upminster into bat. The openers Freddie Henderson and Henry Madsen got the team off to a very solid start with an opening stand of 44 before Freddie was run out in the 9th over.

George Ashlin joined Henry and they moved the score on at a good rate to 84-2 after 15 overs. The Gidea Park spin bowler S Puri however, was finding a good length and bowled Henry who scored a valuable 31 runs. Unfortunately for George the Gidea Park scorer mistook him for Henry and he was forced to retire with his score only on 14 not out.

In his usual fashion, Aadit Latey started to attack the bowling and hit a vital cameo innings of 19 runs off 11 balls before falling LBW.
The innings completed with a few extras and the final score of 119 -4 looked very competitive.

Upminster got off to a great start in the field with a sharp run out during Archie Williams’ impressive opening spell. Archie bowled the other opener to leave Gidea Park on 10-2. Some tight bowling by George Ashlin and Aiden Leung kept Upminster on top and George took a wicket to leave the opposition on 28-3 after 7.1 overs.

Then came a fight back by Gidea Park in which their captain Y. Chohan and D. Mistry attacked the Upminster bowling. They raced to 76-4 after 12 overs and then Aadit Latey brought himself and James Smith-Allen to bowl. They slowed the scoring rate and the tide began to turn again when James, who bowled really quickly, took a c & b against the dangerous Mistry. Good bowling by Liam Pope and Eddy Slay kept the pressure on and then Jack Exall took a great catch off Freddie Henderson’s bowling to dismiss their skipper for 23 runs, leaving Gidea needing 21 runs off 16 balls to win.

Two wickets in the 19th over from Liam’s bowling including a run out by Cameron Thorogood meant that Gidea needed 17 from the last over. Another two wickets in the final over including a stumping off the last ball from Henry Madsen sealed the win. A great match which was even closer than the final score suggests.