Harlow CC 2nd XI endured a tough afternoon at Lower Bury Lane as homeside Epping CC 2nd XI chased down 221 in rapid fashion, winning by eight wickets inside 26 overs.
Batting first after winning the toss, Harlow found themselves under pressure early as wickets tumbled at regular intervals.

Zabihullah Hakimi’s wicket fell early after scoring 13. Rizwan Qayyum played against type with a watchful 19 that soaked up 41 deliveries, it left the side searching for momentum in the powerplay overs, and at 46 for 2 the innings was teetering.

The middle order brought stability. Dipendra Basnet anchored with a composed 43 before being run out, while Soulat Ali struck a fluent 39 with a couple of sixes that kept the scoreboard moving. Abdul Munim’s 22 added resistance, but it was Amir Farooq who stole the show in the closing overs. Arriving with the innings in danger of fizzling out, he smashed an unbeaten 44 from just 30 balls, clearing the ropes twice and propelling Harlow to 220 for 8 from their 45 overs. With 23 extras, the total had respectability but was never out of reach.

Any hopes of defending the score evaporated quickly. From the very first over, Harlow’s bowlers struggled for control, consistently going at close to ten an over. The new ball offered no movement, and Epping’s top order took full advantage, dispatching anything short or overpitched with disdain. Epping romped to 222 for 2 in just 25.5 overs, their dominance unchallenged as boundaries flowed freely.

It was a sobering day for Harlow, whose batting at least showed flashes of fight through Dip, Sunni and Amir, but whose bowling never clicked into gear. To compete in upcoming fixtures, Harlow will need both their openers to fire with intent - something Rizwan himself will no doubt reflect on - and their bowlers to rediscover accuracy and discipline after a chastening outing.

3rd team match report:

Harlow faced against Chingford in probably one of the most important games of the season. It was a battle between 8th and 9th place with both teams separated by only 11 points. Harlow won the toss and decided to bat first and we got off to the perfect start scoring 69 for 0 off the first 10 overs. Arshad then got out but to a superb one handed catch and another wicket soon fell after quickly. Mashood then came in and again batted really well with Atif. Atif scored 81 before getting out to the last ball before drinks leaving us 140-3 after 23 overs. We continued to score quickly with Mashood getting 67 and everyone contributing that came in after. Simon helped the scoring with a quick 21 then when Simon got out we were 250-6 after 40 overs. Jauhar and Faz then smashed the ball all over with Jauhar getting 29 not out and Faz 18 not out and Harlow finishing on 304-6 after the 45 overs.

A Mustehsan 81, M Iqbal 67, A Muhammed 37, J Afaq 29*

Onto the bowling where we couldn’t have had a better start, Jauhar picked up 3 quick wickets with Muhammad Yameen also getting a wicket leaving them 30-4 after 10 overs. We then continued to pick up wickets with both Tyler and Faz picking up wickets during the middle and also Abdul Moiz getting a wicket as well. We then got an important run out with one of their players playing nicely before Muhammed Yameen picked up the last wicket with a good catch from Waleed to finish off the game. We bowled Chingford out for 158 meaning a very important win meaning we now go above Chingford by 5 points with 2 games left.

J Afaq 3/46, M Yameen 2/25, T Dobson 2/35, F Javed 1/23, A Moiz 1/25

Harlow 4xi skippered by Alex Coldwell in the absence of the injured Rob lost the toss and were asked to bowl first, a decision Alex wanted anyway on what looked like a very hard fast strip and outfield.

Little did we know what was to happen over the next few hours.

Dan Whellams and Liam Coldwell produced a fiery opening spell of bowling with the former taking the first 4wkts to fall. One of them brilliantly caught by Oscar Syrett behind the stumps. Ben Dack came on and took another wicket to leave the opposition reeling with only 45 on the board. Dan Whellams took his 5th scalp and ended up with impressive figures of 9-2-16-5 from an unbroken spell.

Lawrence Forde came on to bowl after Dan’s spell and promptly took 3-10 from 4 overs! Rich Norris came on after Ben and cleared up the innings leaving us only 79 to win.

In response Sam Robinson hit a couple of boundaries early on to follow Adam Dack first ball powerful cover drive for 4 to get us to a great start, but we lost Adam, Alex and Ajaz in quick succession followed by the unlucky Rich who was bowled by a ball that was short and did not bounce.

Then Sam was out followed by Oscar and we found ourselves 28/6 and things not looking good.

Back after a decade in the wilderness, Paul Calver (44*) faces 25 balls for his total including 2x6s with Liam put on 56 for the 7th wicket. Liam hitting the winning runs to ensure only our 2nd win of the season and first at home by 4 wkts.

160 runs for 16 wickets summed up the unpredictable poor pitch for both sides to make a decent game.

Big shout out to Dan Whellams for his bowling spell and Paul Calver for his heroics with the bat.