Harlow CC 2nd XI produced a spirited all-round performance to overcome Shenfield CC by 33 runs in a closely fought encounter. Led by Muhammad Umar Raza’s brilliant 5-wicket haul and an outstanding fielding display from the entire team, Harlow defended their total of 201 with confidence and composure.

Winning the toss, Shenfield elected to field first under warm and sunny conditions. Harlow started aggressively, with Arshad Muhammed (26 off 22) and Rizwan Qayyum (32 off 30) setting the tone with a brisk opening stand. Abdul Munim provided crucial stability in the middle overs—riding his luck with a few dropped chances—to score a well-crafted 58 off 71 deliveries. The momentum was further maintained by Waheed Azam, who struck a fluent 45 off 39 balls, keeping the scoreboard moving despite a few hiccups in the middle order. Harlow eventually posted 201 all out in 46 overs—a competitive but arguably below-par total on a good batting surface. Daniel Green led the bowling effort for Shenfield with an excellent return of 5 for 61 from 16 overs.

Defending 201, Harlow’s bowlers showed intent from the outset. Harris Hamid made an early breakthrough before Muhammad Umar Raza took centre stage, ripping through the top and middle order with an outstanding spell of 5 for 35 from 13 overs. He was well supported by Soulat Ali (13-3-32-1), who bowled a probing spell and was desperately unlucky not to pick up more wickets after repeatedly beating the bat.

Some questionable decisions from the league umpire threatened to derail Harlow’s efforts, but captain Amir Farooq held his nerve at the death, claiming 3 wickets for 38 runs in 8.2 overs, including Shenfield’s dangerous lower order.

Despite a fighting 49 from Richard Abson-Bennett and 39 from Daniel Green, Shenfield were bowled out for 168 in 44.2 overs.

? Bowling Figures:
Muhammad Umar Raza – 13-2-35-5

Amir Farooq – 8.2-0-38-3

Soulat Ali – 13-3-32-1

This hard-fought victory sees Harlow CC 2nd XI claim 25 valuable points and strengthen their position in Division One. A gritty, collective effort with both bat and ball once again demonstrated the team's resilience and growing momentum.

3rd team match report:

Harlow won the toss on a very overcast day and decided to bowl first, we had a lot of new faces in the team this weekend and it was one of the new players in Harrison Wren who picked up our first wicket leaving them 40/1 off the first 10 overs. Both Jauhar and Harrison bowled well in the opening stint with both batsman beating the outside edge on multiple occasions. After that we had a rain delay where we put the covers on and as soon as we got them on it stopped raining and as soon as pulled them off it rained again!! This meant our game was reduced to 44/40 and we got off to a good start from the restart when Tyler bowled the captain out for 40 and Muhammad Yameen another new face getting a wicket as well. After that it was more of a struggle as Woodford Wells begun to increase their scoring and us struggling to keep the run rate down. Jauhar came back on to get out the set batsman who was on 88 and Harrison picked up another wicket towards the end. However Woodford Wells ended up scoring 304 in 44 overs.

H Wren 2/42, M Yameen 1/36, T Dobson 1/54, J Afaq 1/73

It was always going to be difficult chasing 304 in 40 overs and we didn’t get off to the best start when Atif got out 2nd ball. But Billy and Waleed started a good partnership with Bill scoring 25 before getting bowled and Waleed top scoring with 35 on his 3’s debut who batted well before he was given out LBW. We then lost a couple of more wickets after that putting us in a difficult situation but some lower order runs meant we were able to get some valuable batting points with Jauhar scoring 30 and Faz getting 32 not out. With 3 overs left we were 9 down meaning if we lost one more wicket we lose the game and give Woodford Wells 25 points. However both Faz and Tyler made sure to not give them those points by playing for the draw.

W Ahmed 35, F Javed 32*, J Afaq 30

4th XI Report

Epping 3xi v Harlow 4xi:

Harlow 4s kicked things off with the kind of commitment you'd expect—mainly, showing up. One of ‘our’ players decided the couch was more appealing after Jon had reluctantly waited for him at Epping Tube station for over 30 minutes, so we started the game with a heroic 10 players. We were all there at 11:45, ready to go, but it wasn't until 12:45 that the opposition finally decided to grace us with their presence to start the game.

We checked out the ‘clubhouse’ and things were looking up when we saw some spotlights being on, but that was it, no running water, no changing rooms (no power so pitch black) or facilities. As cricket at this level is meant to be diverse, we had no facilities to offer our opening bowler, Emilia.
Very disappointed in the efforts (none) that were offered, no sign of a drinks breaks or anything to put into cup or in fact no cups. Luckily, we provided our own and I feel we’re spoiling our oppo when they grace our beautiful club and surroundings at Marigolds and are offered Nick’s onion bhajis for turning up.

Looking back to earlier in the season, Epping took the record for kicking off at 1pm after their grand tour of the countryside and the enduring trip from CM16 to Spicers. At this rate, we’d need a stopwatch and a picnic to keep track! So, we were prepared for another late start.

Now, onto the pitch—if you’ve ever wondered what a field looks like when it’s been farmed for barley, today was your lucky day. It looked like Clarkson’s Farm was filming the next episode—minus Jeremy and Kaleb, sadly. The strip was so well-drilled for harvest, we half expected to see tractors rolling by.

After losing the toss (because who needs that in cricket?), we were inserted into batting first. The pitch played as badly as it looked—bumpy, unpredictable, and probably better suited for a game of shot putt throwing. A blast from the past, our very own Dave Whellams, armed with insider info that we were 11 for 11 overs, made the wise decision to bring his dog, W.G. Gracie, along for moral support. By the time he arrived, we’d managed to, well, not too much, improve our score but were 4 down.

Thanks to Jonny Allen’s 91—dodging and ducking to the tune of the Dambusters—we managed to scrape together what we thought was a competitive total. Rumour had it that 100 runs was a good score on this “pitch,” so we aimed high. Mr. Extras (28) Liam Coldwell (16) and Sam Robinson (20)—who launched a massive straight six that soared over long on and into the fencing—chipped in. The ball Sam hit, struck the fence so hard it as it sailed over long-ons head (he’d been fielding there from ball one), it probably got a suntan. We finished with a respectable (we thought) albeit low score of 176 from our 50 overs.

For the reply, the opposition who had earlier taken nearly four hours to bowl their 50 overs—impressive, considering they then decided to switch to a T20 format (because, obviously, who needs tradition?). In this version, LBW was apparently banished—probably because they forgot how to umpire—and they reached the target in exactly 21 overs. Fail!

Emilia Allen (2-45) took the only wickets, while Liam’s 8 overs for 43 runs were a highlight for us in the bowling efforts.

Special shoutout to the return of the missing former players who played: Lewis Aldred, Daniel Whellams, Gracie the dog, and of course, Jon’s flawless, chanceless innings of 91, apart from the “jug avoidance” score, which even he couldn’t explain ?

All in all, a day to forget, but plenty to laugh about! Not….

5th XI Report

On an unusually overcast and wet looking morning Harlow won the toss and decided to bowl first due to be a little bit light on Numbers to make sure everyone got a game

Benjamin and Lia opening the bowling and getting a wicket in the first three balls then the batter nicking behind on the very next ball but only the standing umpire and batter didn’t seem to hear it
Hatfield started to apply the pressure constantly clearing the boundaries in all directions they had set a blistering pace

A change of bowling and Robert Pound rolling his arm over took his maiden wicket for the club and then our luck changed a consistent spell from Dan Knight kept things tight and the run rate slowed and wickets were falling regularly despite this they still set a total off 350-6

Benjamin Dack 2-64
Dan Knight 2-54
Robert Pound 1-6

In reply Harlow started responding well taking care and being very watchful as the sun is now come out and started drying the pitch out the bounce started to go up and down sadly Hatfield Heath bowling attack was very frugal and kept it incredibly tight line on the stamps picking up wickets at regular intervals and Harlow was all out for 78 not our finest day with the bat but lessons learn heads held high and onto the last few games of the season still confident a positive result is not far away