Belhus Cricket Club won the South Essex District Cricket Board’s Veterans’ Trophy for the first time when they overcame a strong Stanford le Hope batting line-up in the final on Tuesday evening (26th July 2011). Stanford, on their own ground, batted first and reached 134 for the loss of six wickets, as one of our Vice-Presidents, Geoff Lake, contributed 21, Robert Pearn made 13, Duncan Page top-scored with 29 and Chris Ballard was there at the end of the innings, undefeated on 22. Richard Waters was the most successful Belhus bowler, picking up 3-25 from his allotted four-over spell and he was supported by Scott Bayford 2-28, also from four overs. In the reply, Belhus opener Jim Robertson was off to a flyer with a fine knock of 58 until he was caught by Lake off the bowling of Ballard (1-12), but by then Belhus were within easy reach of the Stanford score as Amit Gohil finished on 34 not out, while there was a useful contribution of 29 from Bayford in the middle of the innings. As well as Ballard, four other Stanford bowlers took one wicket each, being Harris, Knight, Powley and Gray.
Stanford le Hope CC scored 140 for the loss of three wickets as they defeated Pegasus and Corringham (137-8) with just four balls to spare in the final of the South Essex District Cricket Board’s twenty overs per side competition on Wednesday (20th July 2011). More details to follow when known.
During the half-term week, the South Board’s age group sides played their first two rounds of inter-district cricket against the West and Central Boards. In what was unusually fine weather for this particular week, results were mixed but here were some fine individual performances which bode well for the future.
The next matches will be on July 28th when all three sides will be away to the North Essex Board.
On Tuesday against the West, pride of place goes to our Under 11 side, who managed a fine seven-wicket win chasing down a total of 121 in only 28 overs thanks to an excellent stand of 106 between Frank Farrington (Basildon and Pitsea) who scored 57 and Tom Baker (Westcliff) who scored 28. The Under 13 side batted poorly reaching only 51 with Mathew Lewis (Belhus) scoring 28 of them. However, they came back strongly to have the West at 3 for 3 at one point before finally going down by 5 wickets. In the Under 15 match, poor fielding allowed the West to score 217 for 8 in their 40 overs and we were never in the hunt, falling to 116 all out of which Louis Poynter (Hadleigh) and Matt Austin (OS & Southchurch) scored 32 and 28 respectively.
On Wednesday at a sunny and even warm Chelmer Park, all 3 sides gave a good account of themselves in front of large crowds. The Under 11′s had an exciting match in which they narrowly failed to chase a target of 160 in their 35 overs despite Kaelan Williams (OS & Southchurch) scoring a patient 26. The Under 13′s showed a terrific improvement from the previous day when they managed to bowl out their Central Board opponents for 128 having collapsed from 103-3 at the 20-over mark. This was mainly due to some accurate bowling from Harry Lockyer (Orsett) and Harry Slack (Leigh) who both took three wickets and were backed up by keen catching and fielding. In reply, Tom Haden (Orsett) with 34 and Austin Holmes (Hadleigh) with 22 put together an opening stand of 71 and Praneet Patel (Rankins) with 26 not out saw us through to a seven-wicket win in just 22 overs, ably supported by Dan Petts (Horndon) and skipper Mathew Lewis (Belhus). In the Under 15 game, some strong batting by the Central Board saw them to a total of 238 for 6 in their 40 overs on a good batting pitch. A much improved reply was led by Carl Lees (Rankins) who kept us in the hunt with a hard-hitting 77, ably supported by Ben Kent (Belhus) with 30. In the end though, wickets were lost in the chase and we ended up 35 runs short.
Our district youth squads are eagerly awaiting their first round of fixtures during the school half-term holiday, but some of our U11 squad members have been fortunate enough to have already played in a warm-up game against Basildon and Pitsea’s U12 team at Mopsies Park on Friday 13th May. The SEDCB batted first in this 20-overs per side evening fixture and scored 70 for the loss of eight wickets, with Craig Smith top scoring for the Board with 22. In the home team’s bowling attack, Frank Farrington took 2-11 from 4 overs (one maiden) and Ben Thompson claimed three wickets for just two runs, also from four overs and including a maiden. In a thrilling finish, Basildon and Pitsea reached 71 for the loss of nine wickets with just 2.3 overs remaining, as Anthony Ayres top scored with 14. For a listing of our district youth representative fixtures, please select the “Youth Representative Cricket” option from the menu listing on the right of this page. The photograph shows John Wade giving some words of wisdom to his young charges. Our under eleven team will next be in action when they entertain the West Essex District Cricket Board at Wickford CC on Tuesday 31st May.
Rayleigh “B” were crowned champions in the inaugural womens’ indoor six a side cricket competition at Grays School this evening (Friday 15th April). Rayleigh finished their league programme unbeaten, having achieved victories over Benfleet, Rayleigh “A” and Thurrock Ladies. Pictured (right) are some members of four participant teams together. Full results, league table and match reports are now available on this website (see menu options on right).
The South Essex District Cricket Board is pleased to announce the election of KEVIN HYMAS (of Thurrock CC) as its Chairman. The decision was taken at the Board’s committee meeting held yesterday (18th April 2011). In addition, GRAHAM DAVIES has been appointed as our Volunteer Co-ordinator, while JOHN WADE adds the role of Coaching Co-ordinator to his existing Youth Secretary role. We wish Kevin, Graham and John every success in their new posts.
Wickford CC became U16 champions in our highly popular inaugural competition staged at St. Christopher’s School, Leigh on Sea, over the past 15 weeks. Wickford ended the competition on Friday (1st April 2011) with a 100% record, which they secured with a five-wicket victory over Eastwood. But their crucial test came on 11th February, when they met eventual runners-up Hadleigh and Thundersley (pictured, left) and achieved a crucial win by three wickets. The Management Committee of the South Essex District Cricket Board would like to thank its retiring officer Michael Law for organising the event. For full details of the competition, including results and final league table, please click the relevant link on the right.
Hadleigh & Thundersley and Belhus cricket clubs will contest the annual play-off between our West and East Champions later this year after both clubs won their respective local competitions. Hadleigh won the Southend Premier Division played at the Chase Leisure Centre, while Belhus finished top of the Thurrock Sunday division at the Gateway Academy. The play-off final is confirmed for Tuesday 1st November 2011 (start time 8pm) at the Essex Autogroup Graham Gooch Cricket Centre, Ford County Ground, Chelmsford.
In other senior divisions, Rayleigh are promoted from division one to the premier division after winning the Southend division one championship, while Belhus completed a senior double by winning the Thurrock midweek league. For competition details, please use the relevant links on the right of this page.
Horndon on the Hill became Thurrock’s under 16 indoor cricket champions at Grays School on Thursday evening (31st March 2011) as they completed their league programme with a 100% record. Stanford le Hope were the champions’ victims in the final week of competition, but it was a close-run affair. It began to look good for Horndon when Stanford were dismissed for just 44, but Hope hit straight back with the early dismissal of Tom Stone. Tom had scored 116 in his previous three innings and had only been dismissed on one occasion. Clearly this was a major setback for the aspiring champions but a level head from lower-order batsman Sam Childers was enough to get Horndon over the finishing line, as he finished with 13 runs to his name. Earlier, Jonathan Edwards was Stanford’s top scorer with 22. Horndon’s Owen Jones and Tyler Moore each picked up two wickets, at a cost of just six and nine runs respectively. Horndon finished on 45 for the loss of three wickets. For further details on the competition and final league standings, please click on the menu item on the right of this page.
It is with great sadness that the South Essex District Cricket Board learned of the passing of Tony Rolph of Old Southendian and Southchurch Cricket Club, following a short illness. For a full obituary from Paul Johnson and Roger Buxton, please click here.
