Chigwell & Hainault produced a fine performance to beat Belmont & Edgware on Sunday, with their batsmen piling on the runs to hit their highest total of the season.
Amid glorious sunny conditions, Belmont captain Ryan Monk surprisingly elected to bowl first. The decision looked to have been a good one as opening bowlers Jacobs and Warren Averbuch applied early pressure with only 11 runs coming from the first six overs.
These runs came at the cost of the wickets of Nigel Katseph and Lloyd Duddridge, the former departing virtue of a run out caused by a lack of communication.
Chigwell captain Matt Murray and Qasim Mirza set about building a big partnership, with Mirza looking particularly dangerous. Murray, in contrast, played with caution as he wanted to see out Averbuch, the most dangerous of the Belmont bowlers.
The change bowlers were not allowed to settle with Mirza going on the offensive, hitting several big boundaries on the way to a 31-ball 50. The partnership of 91 from 10 overs was dominated by Mirza, with Murray only contributing 17 with the bat.
The brakes were not applied with the fall of the wicket, as Paul Salador dispatched three of his first four deliveries to the boundary. Salador and Murray ran aggressively, looking to take every opportunity to gain extra runs.
Murray continued to feed the strike to his batting partner, looking for singles where possible. Salador's assault on the Belmont bowlers was relentless as he too moved to a 31-ball 50.
Salador finally fell for 76 being caught for the first of young spinner Mayer's three wickets. Shortly before this, Murray reached his patient 50 with a punchy on-drive for three.
A late flurry of wickets in the last four overs, alongside some quick runs from Saqib and Michael Myers led to Chigwell finishing on an outstanding 265-7 from their 35 overs.
Chigwell's opening bowlers were intent on not letting Belmont into the game, with Saqib Mirza bowling with pace and aggression. He removed both openers, with Averbuch caught brilliantly by Alex Katseph.
With the sun in his eyes he claims not to have seen the ball in the air until the last moment when he stuck a hand out in hope and it stuck. Kaye, at the other end, continued his form with his loopy straight bowling.
Changing ends allowed Kaye to pick up the important wicket of Mazer before leaving the field early with impressive figures of 7 overs, 1-26.
After losing three wickets the Belmont batsmen decided to rebuild. Richter and Ellis Turhim put on an impressive partnership with Richter, in particular, taking a liking to any poor deliveries bowled by the father and son combination of Nigel and Alex Katseph.
The introduction of pace bowler Paul Salador provided the breaks to any momentum that Belmont had built and he was rewarded for some impressive bowling by taking the wicket of Phil Peters, courtesy of an impressive catch by Saqib, taken over his shoulder running backwards. Salador’s figures of 5 overs 1-14 capped a man-of-the-match performance.
The introduction of Will Ginger and Richard Gold brought about a collapse in the Belmont innings as the batsmen looked to attack Chigwell's inexperienced bowlers. Richter fell caught behind to Ginger having scored 52.
Michael Myers, in his unaccustomed position as wicket keeper also pulled off a smart stumping off Ginger.
Ginger picked up the impressive figures of 3-33. Gold also picked up two wickets off his impressive second over, including Turhim and the dangerous Jacobs.
As Ryan Monk decided to hit out, Murray turned to Saqib to pick up the final wicket of the innings and he duly provided it with Murray taking a smart catch on the boundary as Monk looked for his third six of his knock of 28. Saqib finished with the impressive figures of 6 overs 1-20. Monk's innings did bring some respectability to the Belmont score as they finished 35 runs short of Chigwell’s total.
Chigwell & Hainault 265-7 (35 overs) Paul Salador 76, Matt Murray 56, Q Mirza 51, Mayer 3-19
Belmont & Edgware 2nd 230 (35 overs) Richter 52; S Mirza 3 for 20, Ginger 3-33
Chigwell & Hainault won by 35 runs
