Our 1st XI suffered a 10 wicket reverse at Hadleigh after being bundled out for 134 after the home side won the toss. Ronnie and Sorrell got us off to a decent start with an opening stand of 47 and when George was out we were 89-2. However, a Hornchurch collapse saw us bowled out in the 41st over.

Any hope of us defending the meagre total meant we needed early wickets but they didn’t materialise and Handley and Brewster saw Hadleigh home in the 24th over.

The 2nd XI fell agonisingly short against neighbours Upminster in a game that went down to the last ball. The visitors won the toss and elected to bat. Lord Luke took 4 wickets and Kenny 3 as we bowled them out for 252.

In reply, Lord Luke continued his good run of form with a superb 89. Cameos from George (38) and Big nose Frank (32) saw us stay in the chase. However, needing 16 off the final over, we fell just short but can take heart from getting close to chasing a big total.

The 3rd team started their league campaign with a 41 run win over Oakfield Parkonians. Azian hit 76 and Gary Barnacle 40 as we posted 230-9 in our 45 overs. Nauman and Pierre then took 3 wickets each as we bowled the visitors out for 189 to start off in the best way possible.

The 4s won the toss in their game at Hadleigh but were left to rue their decision to let the home side bat as they racked up a massive 337-5. Our reply never got started and we could only muster 156 with only Mo Butt making a score of any significance (48) as we went down by 181 runs.

The 5th Team chased 195 to beat Billericay by 4 wickets in a pleasing performance by a young and inexperienced side. There were 1st senior wickets for the young trio of Teddy, TJ and Adam whilst the slightly older Dougie took his 1196th wicket for the club. The stand out bowler was Billy Law who’s figures of 8-0-28-3 saw Billericay post 194-9 off their 40 overs.

In reply, debutant Asad smashed 55 off 20 balls before Tony Willison hit 61 before falling with 50 to win. With the visitors sensing a chance of victory, Skipper Lord (47*) and young TJ put on an unbeaten half century stand to see the side home.