Weekly Round Up

Witham claim big win in the NECL championship race, at home to leaders Halstead.

Division One

Witham made a significant statement in the Division One title race, with a seven wicket home victory over leaders Halstead. If they win their game in hand they will go top of the table. The visitors won the toss and elected to bat and with Josh King (34) and Samuel Hawes (48) reached 85 for 4. The middle order all chipped in with runs, with Shair Sullaman (30) and Hayden Plumb (27) scoring quick runs, before a final flourish from Ryan Vickery (40no from 18 balls) saw Halstead up to 229 for 8. All the Witham bowlers picked up wickets with Ben Tinham (2 for 53) the most successful. Christopher Garrard (48) and Michael Godwin (52) got Witham off to an excellent start in response with 89 for the first wicket. Ollie Cooke chipped in with 21, before skipper Kaan Hawes (50no) and Michael Glynn (36no) put on an unbroken stand of 78 to see Witham home by 7 wickets in 37 overs.

Colchester & E.E. scored their first success of the season in Division One, chasing down Sudbury’s 234 for 7 to win with five overs to spare. The mainstay of the Sudbury innings was Darren Batch who posted an unbeaten 112, and enjoying stands of 80 with Kenny Moutlon-Day (35) and 56 with Josh Smith (24). Matt Wallace picked up 2 for 42 from his nine overs, while Vaagni Kodali (2 for 14 from 4) took vital top order wickets. In reply, Colchester lost openers Rahul Viswanath and Kodali with only 18 on the board to Charles Thomas (2 for 52), before an unbeaten 3rd wicket stand of 221 between Liam Wheeler (105no) and Josh Elliott (113no) saw the home side to an eight wicket victory.

The other game at Galleywood, saw the home register their third concession of the season, with Clacton being the recipients of 20 points.

Division Two

There was only one game in Division Two following Coggeshall’s resignation from the competition on Thursday. All the results concerning Coggeshall have been expunged and the revised table is on Play Cricket.

Leaders Great Waltham went to West Mersea and completed a double over the islanders. Batting first after winning the toss, Waltham reached 42 for 2, before Jamie Carroll (85) and Kieran Webb (97) combined to put on 117 for the third wicket. Rory Green (2 for 58) claimed both their wickets, Webb being the fifth man to fall with the score on 243. Arthur Cunningham (32no from 18) and Richard Horswill (35no from 19) then combined to put on 69 in the last five overs as the game was taken out of the islanders reach with Waltham reaching 317 for 5. In reply, Mersea made a good effort to get maximum batting points, lead by a third wicket stand of 83 between James Rutter (63) and Joe Wyatt (36). Three quick wickets to Horswill (2 for 25) and Max Harman (1 for 27) stopped Mersea in their tracks, before Ruben Butler hit a lively 38 to see Mersea to 202 all out. Matthew Reed also picked up two wickets (2 for 34) and Dean Harman ended the match (2 for 0).

Last nights T20 match between Coggeshall and Colchester & E.E. saw the 2021 champions Coggeshall reach Finals Day, by winning their last match by two wickets with one ball to spare. Colchester batted first and were largely indebted to an unbeaten 87 from opener Feroze Ahmed, the only other player reaching double figures was Simon Fernandes (12). Josh Morton picked up 3 for 23, as Colchester posted 156 for 8. The Coggeshall reply mirrored that of Colchester with openers Ed King (66) top scoring. Theo Sivyer (14) and Trevon Garraway (16) added useful knocks, but with Josh Elliott (3 for 34), CL Fernanades (2 for 29) and Jacob Drew (2 for 30) amongst the wickets, it came down to an unbeaten 23 from Andrew Goding to see Coggeshall home.

Last Thursday, Wivenhoe scored an emphatic victory at Castle Park to enhance their chances of qualifying for Finals Day. Batting first Colchester were restricted to 129 for 5 from their 20 overs, this desipte a lively 34 from 23 balls from Simon Fernandes. Tidy four over spells from Ross Evers (2 for 20) and Sahil Sahah (1 for 15), ensured that Colchester were unable to post an excessive score. Rahul Viswanath (28) the next top scorer. Wivenhoe cruised to victory in 14 overs, with Matt Durrell (49no), Sahil Shah (26) and Matt Sullivan (38), seeing them to an eight wicket success.

In the T30 there was no news from the two Copford games played over the weekend. In the other game Kelvedon beat Coggeshall by seven wickets in a high scoring game.

Coggeshall batted first and posted 193 for 5 from their 30 overs, with Trevon Garraway (48), Lewis Turner (51) and Andrew Goding (42) all scoring fluently. Kelvedon timed their chase to perfection with Ashley Griffiths (44), Torin DeSilva (51) and Rumaan Malik (41) putting on stands of 68 for the first wicket, and then 88 for the second wicket. Jamie Manning (16) and Mark Cottee (17no) then eased Kelvedon over the line.

Looks like a very hot one on Sunday, so plenty of drinks breaks and sun cream – in Division One, there is the likelihood of a nice sea breeze at Clacton as they host Colchester & E.E. Halstead look to get back to winning ways at home to Galleywood, while Witham will be wanting to keep the pressure on as they travel to Sudbury.

In Division Two, Great Horkesley & Lexden will hope to get a side together to play Great Totham.

There are two games in the T20 tomorrow evening, with Wivenhoe and Mistley able to seal their Finals Day qualification with wins. Wivenhoe make the trip to The Brow to meet Abberton, while Mistley are at home to Colchester & E.E.

Finally, just the one game in the T30, as Brightlingsea welcome neighbours Tendring.