HARLOW Town made the short trip for the annual pre-season friendly against Sawbridgeworth CC. The pitch was in excellent condition with the wicket appearing to be a batsman friendly wicket. In the spring sunshine Town skipper Daniel Farmer won the toss and chose to bat.

Town opened with Vibes Gadhvi and Ronnie Yates. Aided by a plethora of extras Town were 19-0 after 2 overs. Gadhvi continued to attack the bowling eventually holing out to M Jones for at mid-wicket falling for 13. Suraj Chauhan showed his class with the bat, batting sensibly but dispatching any loose balls. He and Yates put on an excellent partnership of 82 for the second wicket. They saw off the dangerous bowling of Yadav, and ironically it was the change in bowling which was to be the undoing of the partnership. 

Billings in his first over, bowled Ronnie Yates, but Yates should feel happy with a solid 34 as he may look to bat further up the order this season. Chauhan soon completed his 50, eventually being bowled by W Jones for a creditable 51. The scoreboard continued to tick over steadily, Shaun Alderson added a hard working 21, Pat Yates scored 38 before being trapped LBW by W Jones. Debutant Vineet Jain scored a steady 13 before being bowled by the returning Yadav. 

Skipper Farmer batting at 6 hit a well earned 32, and along with the second debutant Om Thakeria put on 39 for the 7^thwicket. Farmer was eventually run out by some very sharp fielding by Brad Oakes who dismissed the Town skipper with a direct hit of the stumps. Thakeria impressed with the bat, showing good technique and seeing out the final 3 overs of the day alongside Sam Wilson allowing Town to finish on 250-7 from their 45 overs. Thakeria finishing 15 not out and Wilson 12 not out. Luke Luckin and Aminesh Sourabh did not bat.

In reply, Chauhan and Wilson kept the early scoring under control with Chauhan making an early breakthrough in the 5^th over, bowling opener Travis Hussain. Owen Groves and Brad Oakes batted sensibly for the next 5 overs, as in the first innings a change of bowling laid waste to the opening batsman, Farmer coming on and bowling Groves. This bought Yadav to the crease and he and Oakes batted well for an impressive stand of 39 for the 3^rd wicket. Farmer and Ronnie Yates bowled tight and kept the run rate under control. Yates eventually got what appeared to be the key wicket of Yadav after a very smart catch from Shaun Alderson. Yates and Thekaria combined for the wicket of Brad Oakes who was caught by Thekaria off of Yates bowling, for a decent 36. Thekaria then bowled M Jones with a snorter of a delivery that looked to have turned about 60 degrees.

With the score at 108-5 and the last two wickets having fallen for no runs Town were in control of the match. Enter Steven Ashman, the Sawbridgeworth skipper, and Jack Timms. They put on a well-deserved 94 for the 6^th wicket. Ashman playing expansively and powerfully scored 52 before he was bowled by Yates, the score 202-6 when Ashman departed. Sam Timms came and went for 2 having his stumps rearranged by the returning Chauhan. Jack Timms continued to show good form with the bat and althogh was caught off a no ball when he was on 15 he made Town pay for this indiscretion reaching 50 before being bowled by Animesh Sourabh in the last over. Two balls later Sourabh bowled W Jones and then closed the innings for Town. 

Town’s bowlers finished Chauhan 2-41 (9 overs), Wilson 0-44 (6 overs), Farmer 1-38 (7 overs), Yates 3-26 (9 overs), Thekaria 1-31 (9 overs), Sourabh 2-43 (5 overs).

A good game played in great spirit also saw both teams observing the national 2 minute silence at 3pm. Town’s next game is away to the higher division Loughton in the League Cup.