Harlow 1st XI batting issues return this week. Following the good show last week it all went wrong. Having lost the toss Harlow where put into bat and it did not take long for the wickets to start to fall. With just seven runs scored Luke Monger went for just five runs bowled by Harry Shirt caught by wicketkeeper Jamie Carroll who went onto to assist taking five wickets. Before long it was three wickets down for 11 runs. Captain Redman Ahmed out for four with Ant Webb out for a duck. Two more quickly fell to leave Harlow on just 28-5 with only opener Surath Bastola offering an resistance, he went on to top score with 37. There was a slight reprieve as Harlow moved onto 69 before the next wicket fell, but this quickly turned into 73-8. A score of less than 100 was looking on. Yet again the tail saved Harlow with Mitchell Howarde and Andre Riddell scoring 22 and 23 not out respectively to take the final score to 140 all out.
In reply South Woodford moved to 43 before the loss of their first wicket bowled Mitchell Howarde who went on to take four wickets in total for 42 runs. A batting collapse all though minor suddenly saw them go to 58-5 and the brief thought was could Harlow turn this around but unfortunately it was not to be as no more wickets fell. In a strange incident nearest Harlow came to another wicket was when a South Woodford batman when attempting a single collided with bowler Howarde and was run out. The umpires consulted their rule books and decided Howarde had deliberately impeded the batsman and instead awarded South Woodford five penalty runs. This summed up Harlow day.
Harlow 2nd XI 250-9 drew with Chingford 2nd XI 200-7 in their match. Winning the toss Harlow elected to bat and scored 250 for loss of nine wickets in their 50 overs top scorer was Waheed Azam with 81 not out, with the father and son pairing of Simon and Max Baulcomb scoring 38 and 35 and Atif Mustehsan getting 36. In reply there was 4 wickets for Danny Stone 64-4 and Nathan McCarthy 26-2.
Harlow 3rd XI 274-4 beat Hainault and Clayhall 268-9. After winning the toss Harlow decided to field. Amir Farooq took 58-4 with the rest of the wickets spread out. Chasing the target of 268 Harlow done it with the loss of just 4 wickets in 42.1 overs. Opener Daniel Stopp scored 85 whilst Ilhan Mustafa finished in 81 not out for a fine win for the thirds.
Harlow 4th XI 240-1 v Belhus 3rd XI 236-4 declared had a fantastic win. Having won the toss Harlow elected to field. A decision at first with Belhus scoring 236 for loss of 4 wickets did not seem to be wise. In reply Harlow lost an early wicket but then things changed. Young Jake Hikmatshah hit a stunning 102 not out but this was bettered by Mashood Iqbal the captain who scored 115 not out for Harlow 4th XI to chase the score down in just 37 overs. This was not the top score in the match though as Belhus batsman Josh Clarke had scored 118 no for them.
Next week 1st XI are away at Loughton with 2nd and 3rd XI both at home to Billericay and Hornchurch whilst 4th XI are away to Hornchurch. 5th XI play Thorley in HECL.