A return of slightly warmer weather saw an upturn in fortunes for the majority of the Harlow CC sides as all bar the 3rd XI managed victories on Saturday.

The first XI entertained Ardleigh Green & Havering CC at Marigolds and having won the toss put the visitors in on a green lush wicket. Despite being restricted to under 4 an over Ardleigh Green had built a decent base to launch from when placed at 114-1 only to collapse under the pressure of some excellent bowling from Sarfraz Ahmed (5-58), Mitch Howarde (2-45) & Jason McNally (3-48) leaving them at 149-9. A frustrating last wicket partnership of 25 allowed Ardleigh to scrape together a total of 174 all out in 45.3 overs.

Chasing sub 200 totals has not proved to be easy in recent years for our lads and at 59-3 no doubt nerves were on edge when a key drop in the field at deep cover gave Jason McNally a life when only on 15. This was a pivotal moment as from that point our Harlow Aussie attacked the bowling with a devastating effect smashing 16 fours and three huge sixes in his total of 109 not out to take us to victory in only the 27th over. Jason received admirable support from Rehman Ahmed who looked in excellent touch whilst contributing a supporting 27 not out.

A first competitive win of the season for the 1st XI after a good pre-season was slightly tarnished by disappointing performances in both the cup and opening league fixture and certainly they can look forward with renewed confidence to their goal of promotion back to Division 2 at the first attempt.

The 2nd XI faced the same opposition in their league fixture and Rob Caldwell’s side recorded an overwhelming victory. Blessed with a bowling unit packed with first team experience coupled with the promise of youngster Matt Hart our lads took wickets at regular intervals and dismissed Ardleigh for 150 in only 32.4 overs. Every bowler contributed with Waheed Azam (4-31), Callum Sykes (2-42), Matt Hart (2-25) & Jake Messenger (1-21) the wicket takers but also supported by a tight spell for the second week running for Joe Riddell who’s 6 overs cost a little more than 3 runs an over.

In reply a confident effort saw us comfortably home to win by 8 wickets. Zabi Hakimi ended 67 not out along with an unbeaten 46 from the in form John Perry whilst Sunny Ali added 30.

This second successive win puts the 2s joint top in the early league table.

The only reverse of the day was on Spicers where the 3rd XI were comprehensively beaten by Brentwood CC. It should be borne in mind that of all our sides the 3rd XI play at the highest division in their respective level (3rd XI Premier) but they wopuld have been disappointed to allow Brentwood to wrack up 296 all out on a green wicket. Reece Galvin (4-37) and Amir Farooq (3-46) were the pick of the bowlers. Our innings never really got started as we were bundled out for 139 with Max Baulcomb top scoring with 28.

The 4th XI also faced Brentwood CC and won an epic match by one wicket. Harlow won the toss and elected to bowl with Brentwood making 216-7 in their 50 overs (Ali Zahid 2-53) & Harris Hamid (2-27) the pick of the bowlers. Contributions from almost every batsman took us 186-5 and in sight of victory only for a late wobble leaving the $s needing ten to win with their last pair at the wicket but Irfan Shoukat & Omar Qureshi kept their nerve tosee us home. Biju Matthew top scored with 55 supported by Rizwan Qayyum (26) & Hamid Ali (25).

Harlow Vth XI beat Birchanger II XI
Harlow scored 277 for 4 and Birchanger replied with 129 all out. James Forde (u13) scored his maiden century with 107 not out, Jon Allen 53, Zain Munir (u13) 41,Shab Munir (u50) 33 not out.
Kobie Richmond 8 overs, 1 maiden, 19 runs, 5 wickets, Ronnie Fuller 8 overs, 1 maiden, 28 runs, 3 wickets.