Match Reports 2016

6th August 2016 League Home v Hadleigh & Thundersley

Hadleigh & Thundersley won the toss and elected to bat

Result – Harlow won by 2 wickets

It was a tense finish at Marigolds as Harlow, with only 2 wickets remaining, managed to beat Hadleigh & Thundersley and keep the club amongst the pack chasing promotion.

A great start by the bowlers left Hadleigh reeling at 29-3, the wickets being shared between Mustanser, Nicky Baxter and Callum Sykes. Hadleigh were indebted to Adam Soilleux and Sam Handley for a terrific century partnership, Soilleux (84) eventually being caught by Jake Messenger off Mitch Howarde. A second dismissal by Howarde left Hadleigh on 164-6 and their innings back in the balance. The Hadleigh lower order were only able to offer Handley modest support and when he was dismissed, caught and bowled by Mustanser for 66, the away side were condemned to what appeared a below par score of 222. Howarde was the pick of the bowlers, picking up 4 wickets for only 35 runs, with the other wickets being shared between the bowlers in what had been a good performance with the ball.

It was the first occasion that wicket-keeper Alan Jones had taken 5 catches in an innings. That was as good as it got for Jones (4) as Richard Revell sent his off-stump cart-wheeling early in the Harlow reply. The loss of Hafiz (20), also bowled, could have led Harlow to adopt a more cautionary approach but Rehman Ahmed and Ahmed Khawaja instead took the attack to Hadleigh. A flurry of hard-hit boundaries, including a straight six by Khawaja, took Harlow to 108 when Khawaja (23) was unluckily adjudged LBW. The skipper Ahmed (34) soon followed, not waiting for the umpire’s decision after edging a ball to the keeper. Good contributions from Ubaid (25), Baxter (35) and Howarde (23) kept Harlow in contention but the home side were losing wickets at an alarming rate and were reduced to 182-8. A terrific partnership of 43 by Mustanser (17*) and Messenger (16*) saw Harlow home, the latter sealing the win with a four. It was a curious innings as Harlow made hard work of a run chase and yet 8 out of 10 batsmen reached double figures.

A crucial game awaits Harlow on Saturday, away to second place Southend-on-Sea.