An away fixture in North East London at Frenford CC had long looked a challenging and pivotal fixture with the Londoners possessing overseas star P. Bhalerao in their ranks. The left arm spinner had taken 15 wickets in the last two matches including destroying promotion rivals Leigh on Sea. He was always likely to feature strongly for Frenford but as it turned out was arguably more influential with the bat.

Harlow skipper, Ben Yeats, won the toss and inserted the home side on an arid surface that was clearly going to favour spin at some point.

In opening bowler Joe Riddell, Harlow have the leading pace bowler in the division, and no one would have been disappointed than him with his opening couple of overs that were too short and too wide. Frenford youngster Akram cashed in taking advantage to register a flurry of early boundaries as the score board raced along.

Accuracy issues were not a problem at the other end as Muhammed Umar Raza nagged away swinging the ball both ways off a good length. It was Umer who deservedly struck first as an inswinger found the gap between bat and pad to bowl Zulfiqar for 1.

Buoyed by the wicket at the other end Riddell reset his radar and commenced a stunning and brilliant spell of seam. In the space of 13 wonderful deliveries he took 5 wickets without conceding a single run. Included was a hattrick as he single handedly flipped the match on its head.

Young Akram was bowled for 19, beaten for pace, before Shahzad was comprehensively bowled by a ball that pitched on middle and hit the top of off stump.

In his fifth over he induced Rehman to nick behind with Alfie Jessey taking a fine low catch. Next ball, home skipper Mo Amin chopped onto his stumps and the hattrick was complete when Riddell knocked back Shah’s leg stump.

At 47-6 Frenford were in desperate trouble and the crisis only became worse when arguably their best batsman, Danial Mahmood edged Riddell to keeper Jessey for his sixth wicket.

This brought overseas star Bhalerao to the crease and he clearly had decided all out attack was the only option. Boundaries started to come all too frequently for Harlow’s liking despite a fabulous series of overs from youngster George Jessey. As the ball departed to all parts at the other end Jessey turned in 7 overs during which he conceded a mere 4 scoring shots. He can be forgiven that one of those four shots was an enormous straight six off the willow of Bhalerao that travelled an inordinate distance, left the ground, cleared the road before causing extensive damage to a local residence.

Young George was to have the final say though as he found extra turn and enticed Bhalerao into one big shot too many with Ronnie Fuller making a catch of a high degree of difficulty in the outfield look relatively easy.

Jack Fuller, another of Harlows young talents, and he barely bowled a bad ball as he challenged the batsmen constantly without a reward in the wicket column.

As Frenford’s tail scrambled to add a few extra runs Jessey trapped Nawaz leg before and Jake Messenger, finding prodigious turn, had the last man caught by Whitworth at slip.

All out for 131 with 18 overs to spare. A brilliant job by the Harlow bowlers but now the big test of the batsmen - could they repel the spin of Bhalerao and accuracy of medium paceman Ejaz Khan?

The opening 13 overs bowled before tea were like a slow and painful Elizabethan torture. Frenford fielders crowded around the bat, urging Ejaz and Bhalerao on, as ball after ball was on the spot. Sheer survival was the only goal despite Harlows pregame plan of positive batting against this pair. The volume only ratcheted up further when Chris Whitworth was possibly unfortunate to be given out for a duck and Zabi Hakimi’s stubborn resistance was ended by Bhalerao trapping him in front of the stumps.

It was very much a game in the balance when 17 year old Alfie Jessey joined his captain at the wicket. Harlow’s two most technically proficient batters defended with complete focus and commitment but also pushed to rotate strike to good effect. Tea was reached without further damage as Harlow’s support breathed a sigh of relief.

When the game commenced after the break it appeared the cheese pasta bake had caused Frenford to lose their edge in the field. As Ejaz began to tire Yeats crashed two boundaries off his 8th over resulting in a bowling change. Pressure slowly released.

Jessey took a liking to Shah’s pace after he came on first change, striking boundaries around the ground. Yeats, by this stage looking every bit the divisions leading run scorer, decided to attack the imperious Bhalerao and Several quick boundaries saw the star spinner withdrawn from service for a period.

As the quality of bowling dipped the Harlow batsmen plundered. With the game rapidly heading the way of the visitors Bhalerao was recalled only to be treated with distain by young Alfie Jessey who launched his own huge maximum with a glorious slog sweep over wide mid on.

An intense game was lightened when Ronnie Fuller jumped across on the boundary to ensure spectators weren’t hit by another Harlow boundary only to go down with cramp in both hamstrings. The 21 year old looking 91 to his teammates amusement.

By this stage runs, so hard to come by earlier - were flowing at around 10 an over. Yeats reached his 50 and preceded to make an unbeaten 74 leaving young Jessey with 4 needed to win and 3 for the Harlow number fours personal half century. A low hard cut burst through slip to reach the boundary bringing Harlow the victory and Jessey his milestone.

An elated Harlow dressing room celebrated another outstanding effort and the volume of the singing only increased with news of defeat for their two closest rivals in the promotion race. Five tough games left but a handsome 34 point advantage.

Bowling

Riddell 6-56, Umar Raza 1-34, G. Jessey 2-9, Whitworth 0-21, J. Fuller 0-8, Messenger 1-0

Batting

Yeats 74*, A. Jessey 51*

Photo - Alfie Jessey, Joe Riddell and Ben Yeats celebrate post match.