07th May 2016 League Home v Loughton

Loughton won the toss and elected to bat

Result – Draw

Harlow welcomed Loughton for the first Division One match of the season.

Nick Baxter got the lads off to a great start with an in-swinging low full toss which bowled Scarlioli (1). Baxter and Mustanser created further chances, mainly edges through or over the slip cordon; in the early exchanges Loughton’s main scoring area was to the vacant third-man. Mustanser induced a leading-edge from the classy Venkatesan but could not get back to take what was a difficult caught and bowled chance.

Luke Monger then eased his way in with a probing maiden before Lewis Aldred had Mills edging over the slips for another boundary to third-man. Although wickets were hard to come by on a good batting track, the bowling was reasonably tight. With Loughton on 86 Luke Heskett got the vital breakthrough when Venkatesan (33) nicked off to the keeper. To his credit Venkatesan walked without waiting for the umpire’s decision. In an identical dismissal Heskett then had Mills (42) caught behind the stumps too.

Loughton’s skipper Bilal Butt and Ali Khail showed their experience guiding the visitors through the middle overs, consolidating the innings in preparation for the late onslaught. With the score on 179 Rehman Ahmed caught Butt off Monger for 38. Soon after Hafiz had Khail (64) caught in the deep by league debutant Ubaid.

Although Loughton showed positive intent Hafiz and Monger, who had Abbas (12) LBW, bowled some excellent overs at the death to limit the visitors to 226. Luke Monger (13-2-50-2) and Luke Heskett (12-1-44-2) carried a lot of the burden on a hot afternoon at Marigolds.

Harlow’s reply saw three early boundaries from Hafiz before Jones (0) was adjudged LBW after some deliberation by the umpire. Harlow were reduced to 15-2 when Hafiz (14) was also dismissed LBW, this time by a ball from Sorrell that kept low. Rehman was at his aggressive best and in one over from Bridges the skipper hit two 6s and a cut for 4. Rehman’s 50 came in 51 balls taking Harlow to 77-2 off 15 overs. Khawaja (30), playing the supporting role on this occasion, was bowled by Butt. Soon after drinks Rehman (92) was also bowled by Butt, leaving Harlow on 143-4. Rehman’s superb innings, off just 91 balls, contained three 6s and eleven 4s.

Ubaid was joined at the crease by Baxter, whose innings was characterised by aggressive running and his trade-mark slog-sweep. After a cautious start Ubaid also set about the run chase, including one sumptuous lofted cover drive down to the new nets. Their partnership of 69 took the score to 212 before Baxter (40) holed out to short third man. Mustanser arrived with Harlow needing 15 off 2 overs but he soon departed as the run-chase intensified. With 13 needed off 7 balls Heskett was run out pushing for a second run. The final over saw the dismissal of Ubaid (31), Harlow’s eighth wicket, before the team secured a draw in what had been an entertaining first League match.

Harlow skipper Rehman said “The game left a slight sour taste getting so close to winning, similar to how last season went. We did all the hard work but fell at the last hurdle. However there are many positives to take out of the game and it took us to a winning situation, so the focus is on that. We are away to Woodford Wells next week. We’ll look to play the same way, with the same intensity just push harder for that all important win”