18th June 2016 League Away v Harold Wood

Harold Wood won the toss and elected to field

Result – Harlow won by 7 wickets

HARLOW put in a poor performance against Harold Wood which saw them tamely surrender their unbeaten status and slump back into a mid-table berth. Harlow never really came to terms with the overcast conditions and a damp pitch which had a bit of variable bounce. Mohammed Waqas (11) hit a well-timed flick through mid-wicket and an aggressive pull shot before being bowled by Maruf Chowdhury. Alan Jones (14) struggled to find any tempo to his innings before being bowled in the eighteenth over. Rehman Ahmed (37) sought to inject some life into the innings, exemplified by the consecutive boundaries struck off Mohammed Fahad, but it was to little avail. The only other batsmen into double figures were Jon Perry (18), who pulled a terrific six, and Mustanser Meraj (14). We should also give an honourable mention to Extras who chipped in with a valuable 14. Harlow were dismissed for an unconvincing and uncompetitive 130. Chowdhury and Waqas Shafique, the pick of the Harold Wood bowlers, shared a total of six wickets for only 45 runs.

Harlow needed an early breakthrough and it arrived in Nicky Baxter’s first over when he bowled Burhan Mahmood (1). Craig Perrin edged a ball from Callum Sykes but it was a difficult chance which Jones could not take. The early Harlow pressure was only fleeting and soon Raihan Hussain and Perrin were scoring freely and making a mockery of the run-chase. Hussain (51) was eventually caught behind after going for an extravagant shot of Mitch Howard’s first ball. Ubaid picked up a consolation wicket (caught & bowled) but fittingly Perrin (62) was there at the end to see his team home in what had been a disappointingly one-sided contest.

Skipper Rehman said after the game “We ruined our unbeaten run ourselves. Scoring 130 on that wicket and not batting out our overs was criminal. Nearly everyone was out to playing a bad shot with the pitch being decent to bat on once you applied youself. Their bowling attack wasn’t unplayable, we just handed our wickets to them. Their batsmen showed us how to bat on that wicket by simply playing the ball on merit. We dust ourselves of and entertain Fives & Heronians at home, where we will look to prize our wickets more”