Wanstead 1st XI v Chelmsford 1st XI
Saturday 11th May
Essex League Premier Division
The 1st XI got their season off to a disappointing start with a 4 wicket defeat at Chelmsford. After being put into bat on a bowler-friendly green wicket, Wanstead struggled to post a score against a strong Chelmsford bowling unit. Hassan (36) and Tom (23) were top scorers in a total of 126 all out.
Chelmsford began steadily, and it took a great piece of fielding by Hassan to break the opening partnership via a run out. Joe took 2 wickets in 2 deliveries and 4 in total, but Chelmsford were able to reach the target with 4 wickets remaining.
Wanstead 1st XI v North Middlesex 1st XI
Sunday 12th May
National Club Cup
The Wanstead 1st XI put on a strong batting performance in their National Club Cup game against North Middlesex on Sunday. Tom set things up with a quick fire 41, then Kishen and Haaris shared a partnership of 134, scoring 86 and 75 respectively. Hassan also continued his good form from Saturday with 23 in a total of 286 for 7, which included two spectacular catches by North Mids players.
North Middlesex started well until Joe came on to bowl and took the first three wickets. Yuvraj also took two wickets and got a sharp run out. The opposition fought hard to try to get close to our challenging total, with Luke Hollman top scoring on 63. They were eventually dismissed for 226, so giving us a 60 run win.
Wanstead Women v Colchester Women
Sunday 12th May
A first loss of the season as Wanstead Women’s XI played their first away game against Colchester and East Essex CC. We won the toss and elected to bat first as it looked to be a batting friendly pitch, however, we lost the top three batters, and at 40 for 3 in 9 overs, it required two good partnerships to get ourselves going and still give ourselves a chance to be very much in the game. Noor continued her great form from the last game, scoring 37 off 67 balls and building a partnership with Momina of 42 runs, where Momina scored 23 off 53 balls. We lost Momina in the 21st over to an unlucky stumping, but another 37 run partnership with Nana looked good, with Nana scoring 20 runs off 49 balls. We lost Noor in the 30th over and Nafeesa coming in meant quick runs. Nafeesa scored 17 off 28 balls in a 30 run partnership, with Wanstead finishing on 149 for 7 from 40 overs.
We knew that we were about 40 to 50 runs short, which meant going for early wickets in the game. With Nelly and Zainab taking 1 wicket each, with mind blowing catches in the field by Madiha and Serena, Colchester were 43 for 2 after 9 overs. Unfortunately, we couldn’t break down an amazing partnership of 109 runs by Bella and Lucy with both scoring 50s. Astonishing fielding by Anjali and Mubashra helped us save 25-30 odd runs in the field and the ladies showed positive character in the field, despite the fact things weren’t looking easy in the end.
Wanstead 2nd XI v Ilford 2nd XI
Saturday 11th May
Wanstead’s Super 2s lost the toss and were sent into field. Marley and Jack set the tone, restricting Ilford to 28 for 3 as Hamza replaced Marley. After a tight spell with little reward from Hamza, with back-up from league debutant George Davies, Ilford were 109 for 6. As their tail wagged a little, Marley and Abhay came on and polished the tail off for a total of 168 all out - Marley picking up 4 for 49 & Faheem taking 3 catches and 1 stumping.
After tea, Zoraiz and Aryan got us off to a flier with us sitting on 41 off 6 overs. Ilford struck back with two quick wickets and suddenly we were 53 for 2. In came Rod & Faheem, and their partnership ended up being a winning one with a score of 109 together taking our total to 162 for 3. Faheem ended on 52 and Rod on 56 not out. A thoroughly good performance from all involved and a great start to the Super 2s season!
Wanstead Ladies 2nd XI v High Roding
Sensational start to the season for the Women’s Division 2 Team v High Roding. In the blazing heat of the hottest day of the year, we lost the toss and High Roding elected to bat. This was a considerable blow as 2 of our players had been called up for Essex and were racing to get back to Nutter Lane in time. With just 8 fielders, Wanstead set out with our heads high ready to take on the task.
It was a dream start. Clem took out the opener for just 1 run via an LBW. A run out from Kiah’s bowling followed shortly. Just 5 balls later Clem took her second wicket, a rocket smashing middle stump. Roding dug in for a long spell despite a couple of quality overs from Farah before we managed to finish them off with wickets from Iqra, Safa (2) a stumping and a run out. Roding invoked law 24.2 to prevent Keya and Deetya from bowling but they made a huge impact in the field in the short time while they were there.
Wanstead went in to bat chasing 111. Clem wasted no time putting on 21 runs for just 10 balls. Kiah helped up the total with an impressive 25. Iqra showed herself to be a true middle order batter with a ferocious 32. A few balls later and Keya scored the winning runs with a beautiful 4. Special shout out to Clare and Jamee who played their first ever hardball games. The team showed true character and grit today and I am immensely proud.
Wanstead 3rd XI vs Harlow
Saturday 11th May
After losing the toss and breaking our opening stand early on, the top and middle order grafted intelligently, building a platform to accelerate during the middle to latter stages of the innings. Leading the way was our valiant vice captain, Antony Smith (pictured below), who showcased a masterclass of drives, pulls and clean hitting to bring up his maiden 3rd XI hundred. Coupled with captivating cameos from Pavan Patel (35), Zafar Saiyed (27), Ahmadullah Jan (20) and Stephen Ramdial (33), the Herons steered their way to a very competitive 261 for 8.
An expensive start with the ball sent a few nerves jangling but up stepped our wiley campaigner Paul Richardson, who revelled in the pressure and began to wreak havoc in the Harlow top and middle order taking 3 for 27 in 9 overs. On debut, Abdur Barry (9-1-1-32) showed his promise as he bowled with clever control and helped to magnify the pressure from the opposite end. Credit must also be given to our remaining bowlers who stuck to the task and were supported in the field by some incredible catches to help us bowl out Harlow for 185 to win by an emphatic 77 runs.
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Wanstead 5th XI v Oakfield
Saturday 11th May
The 5th XI had a great win by 139 runs with some terrific performances by the juniors both with bat and ball, ably supported by three adult players. Oakfield won the toss and asked Wanstead to bat first. On a tricky early season Fairlop pitch, Rajesh (78 runs) and Pranav (51 runs) batted watchfully but also put the bad balls away in their opening stand of 83. This was followed by a 111 run partnership between Rajesh and Nikhil (53). Wanstead put on a total of 212 in 40 overs.
Jaden (3 wickets) and Rajesh (1 wicket) in their opening spell crushed any hope Oakfield had in challenging our score. All other bowlers then chipped in with regular wickets and notably Oakfield had 8 of their batters clean bowled, evidencing the quality of our bowling.
Wanstead 6th XI v Newham
Saturday 11th May
The Wanstead 6th XI made it to the ground at Newham on time, which was a great start following some poor instructions from the skipper. Father, son (and Mum watching) for the Bhatterjee boys.
Winning the toss and choosing to bat, some fierce bowling from Newham’s rockstar bowler Khan did the early damage, although Dan had a few lives and Callum did enjoy himself before mis-timing one to mid-off. Mo, Mital and Tariq did a great job of steadying the ship, with the latter top scoring with a dogged 34 playing some terrific shots on the way. We found ourselves all out for 122.
Still feeling positive in the May sunshine, the new ball went to the man Tariq whose pace troubled the openers and stung the keepers’ hands (who kept in a rather unorthodox but effective fashion). From the other end, Callum got a ripper and took their opener. Alas, that’s almost as good as if got before Riyyan took his first senior wicket for Wanstead, getting one to turn late and take their other opener shortly before the winning runs were scored (cue plane celebration and match ball)!