On a incredibly hot Saturday in Highams Park, Harlow 1st XI had to settle for a hard-fought draw against West Essex, a result that might not have thrilled the players but proved vital in the context of an incredibly tight Division Three table.
While West Essex would have gone top with a win, Harlow’s battling second-innings effort ensured they took 7 points, slipping only to third place, and now sit just 5 points off the summit. With only 12 points separating the top eight, it’s officially wide open.

After being put in the field, Harlow had to bowl in punishing heat on a notoriously difficult West Essex wicket though this week, the usually lively track flattened out under the relentless sun.

David Waters, still nursing an injury and adjusting to local conditions, opened up with a reduced run-up medium pace approach. His first ball went sailing over the ropes for six, but to his credit, he responded in style taking two wickets in two balls and putting Harlow briefly on top.
Unfortunately, the joy was short-lived as Zain Akhtar (149 off 124 balls) and Muhammed Zareef (67 off 44) made full use of the conditions, cashing in on some sloppy fielding and lacklustre intensity in the ring. With singles gifted regularly and two catches going down, Harlow toiled. At one stage, even an attempted run-out throw from Matt Hurley struck the umpire in the head, fortunately, he was unharmed and returned for the second innings.

A run-out from skipper Tom Garner off the last ball of the 48th over finally brought the innings to a close with West Essex declaring on 307-7, probably a few overs too late given the conditions and pitch.

With a target of 308, Harlow knew the chase would be a tall order, especially after losing Chris Whitworth (34) and Matt Hurley (17) early, both falling just as they were finding rhythm.

The innings was held together by David Waters, who added to his three wickets with an invaluable 58 not out off 117 balls. He batted with composure and clarity, anchoring Harlow through a tense middle period where the goal became not the win, but ensuring West Essex didn’t get one either.
There were lively contributions from Gull Hassan (41 off 32) and Umar Raza (33 off 20) who played positively to keep the scoring rate ticking. Tom Garner chipped in with 27, but as wickets fell, the objective became clear: bat the overs, take what we can.
Keeper Andre Riddell blocked out the final over grinding out a few dots under pressure to ensure the draw and deny West Essex the full 25 points.

The draw might not have felt glorious, but it was hugely important. With every other result falling kindly, Harlow remained firmly in the promotion hunt, just 5 points off top and well positioned heading into the second half of the season.

This week brings a familiar foe: Barking at Marigolds a side Harlow already beat earlier this summer. The opportunity is there to get back to winning ways… but with the table so tight, every point matters.

2nd XI Report

In a high-intensity contest under warm summer skies at Marigolds, Harlow 2nd XI won the toss and decided to bat first hoping to put a huge total on the board.
Harlow started cautiously after winning the toss. With openers looking to settle on a warm day, Munim struggled to score runs but it was Zabi who injected much-needed momentum. His fluent 43 off 58 balls, featuring 9 boundaries, could be the highlight of the innings, until he decided to play a rash shot of the leggie to clear the rope and got clean bowled.

Orsett decided to bring the spinners on early. Although Rizwan managed to find the boundaries, but struggled to take singles, occupying the crease for 59 deliveries to compile 29 runs. Riz also gave his wicket away with a reckless attempt to clear the ropes, missing the ball completely and getting bowled. Alfie’s innings was promising as he was middling the ball well. Alfie struck a breezy 27 off 23, including six boundaries, attacking the spinners with intent.

The struggle to take singles and build a partnership continued as we lost a few quick wickets without a sizeable contribution to the scoreboard. Jake’s innings was looking promising but he got runout. Soulat Ali added quick runs with an aggressive 27 off 28 (2 fours, 2 sixes), lifting the innings just as it began to stall.
In the dying overs, Amir Farooq smashed an unbeaten 21 off just 11 balls, launching two massive sixes that pushed the total over the 200 mark. Unfortunately, we couldn’t bat through the overs and got all out with 5 overs to spare.

In reply, Orsett & Thurrock paced their innings superbly. Harlow’s opening bowlers found some early rhythm, with Sunni removing the dangerous Shahid Mushtaq early. Sunni’s opening spell was quick and bowled precise lines troubling the batsman frequently. Jack bowled well with pace and accuracy and returning later to dismiss Zak Wilson after a blistering cameo. Fuller ended with a strong spell of 11-2-33-2.

However, the star of the chase was undoubtedly Finley Barton, whose calm and classical 77 off 132 balls anchored the innings. He mixed grit with elegance showing great temperament.
After a measured start, Zak Wilson broke the back of the chase with a brutal 52 off just 34 balls, including 3 sixes. His acceleration came at a crucial time when the required rate was beginning to climb.
Despite a couple of breakthroughs in the middle overs, Harlow couldn’t sustain the pressure from both ends. Louie Collins (21* off 13) and Yuvraj Verma (17* off 27) calmly finished the game with well-timed strokes, steering their side to 210/4 in 44 overs.

3rd XI Report

Harlow travelled to Shenfield in an important game with two teams close together in the table. Harlow won the toss and bowled first and Harris got us off to a great start bowling one of their openers out first ball!! The other opening batsman scored 109 until Abdul Moiz picked up his wicket, Abdul also picked up 2 more important wickets in the middle when it was most needed. Jahaur and Harris then closed out the innings very well bowling different variations and picking up wickets towards the end. Shenfield got a score of 294 off 50 overs.

J Afaq 3/54, A Moiz 3/61, H Hamid 2/56, T Dobson 0/32, F Javed 0/46

Our reply didn’t get off to the best starts with us losing 2 early wickets at the top of the order, Freno then scored 20 on his debut for the 3’s and then came Naseer who scored a superb 106 runs, his partnership with Simon was really needed at the time with Simon getting a very good 49 before getting out to a one handed catch!! Simon and Naseer’s partnership helped us get over 200 runs meaning we got maximum batting points and it got to a point where the run rate got too high so we then needed to make sure that Shenfield didn’t get the full 25 points especially being so close to us in the table and we got a well earned draw out of the game. Congratulations to Naseer once again on scoring a 100!!

Naseer 106, Simon 49, Freno 20

4th XI Report

Harlow won the toss and batted first. Plan was to get a decent total on the board but 6 players managed to get into double figures and our top scorer was the extras total. A hugely disappointing batting performance considering the conditions. Rob Coldwell (22) and Biju Mathew (21) the only two breaking into the 20s as we crumbled to 133 all out despite some late useful runs from Adam Robinson 10* and Emilia 8

In replies had Stanford 30-4 with Harrison Wren getting an early wicket, but it was Oliver Allen who ripped through the top order bowling out 3 of their top four cartwheeling their middle stumps.
Searing heat put paid to Emilia’s spell but she managed to grab two wickets for 19. Oliver 3-20 off 7 being the pick of the bowlers.

The whole game was in balance and when Oscar Syrett sharp stumping was overruled by the square leg umpire when everyone in the field knew it was out, ultimately cost us the game. The visiting no.5 was on 21 when this happened and he went out to make 52*

One decision cost us but ultimately our batting let us down this week.

5th XI Report

On what seems to be a new normal now for us, another blisteringly hot Saturday afternoon we arrived at the ground with the intention of batting first, but sadly lost the toss and was put in the field again for another very hot 40 overs.

The bowling pair started really well, restricting to just 35 runs off the first 10 overs. Benjamin Dack bowled a particularly impressive spell in the heat, off 5 overs, just conceding 5 runs with 2 maidens as well.
Backed up by Ayaz who kept it nice and tight, and with the impressive Zac Burns securing a very good run out they were 35-1 off 10 overs.

We were always in the game till some questionable umpiring calls and a retired batter making way for an 'injury' and the replacement coming in and smashing 83 off 22 balls.
Smashing our younger and older bowlers all out the ground. We tried everything to try to limit the damage but couldn’t stop the runs.
But it’s important the younger kids realise this doesn’t happen every week.
Before we knew it they had taken it away from us a little bit with very little on offer for the bowlers today on a very flat wicket.
Posting 322-3, a day that started off with a lot of promise was taken away but we walked off with head held high and a good sprit.

The run case got off to a great start with Jack Sykes looking as composed as ever hitting boundaries for fun, ably supported by Muquit Shaikh, sharing an opening stand of 65. Both batted beautifully and set the tempo for the rest of the innings and with Zach Burns coming in at number three making a superb 33 not out we was able to make sure they spent just as long in the field as we did and batted out our 40 overs for a total of 173-8.

While it might not be a win, it felt like a win to us because we morally had the high ground. Barring some inconsistent decisions and potential other issues we would’ve been right in this game. The young players continue to amaze me with how well they do on a weekly basis and I could not be prouder of the effort of everybody involved on what was again another hot hot day

Next week we face a young Bishop Stortford side and then two games against Sawbridgeworth so next three games are for us an opportunity to possibly pick up that first win on the next one.