REPORT by Harlow Cricket Club: We will begin our round up of the 2nd to 4th XI matches on the final day of the season at the Peter May Sports Centre where Harlow CC 4th XI defeated promoted Chingford 3rd XI to avoid relegation.

We don’t yet have the benefit of a full scorecard but Chingford batted first making 137 all out with the wickets shared about (definitely a brace each for youngsters George Jessey and James Mitchell).

Harlow comfortably reached the target with Zabi Hakimi making 30 and Mark Quant (26*) and Zaheer Mirza (27*) taking the side to the win and safety. Two superb back to back wins after a difficult run has been enough to preserve our status in the division. Brilliant effort from Nathan and all his young side.

On Spicers Rizwan and his title winning 3rd XI produced a slightly under par performance in defeat to Upminster. They can certainly be forgiven after a season as good as any from a Harlow side that I can recall.

A very good effort with the ball, led by Tyler Dobson 4-26 (9) and Syed Ali 3-32 (9), restricted the visitors to 203-9 in their 45 overs.

The Harlow reply was making good progress at 140-4 after 20 overs but the dismissal of the set batsmen led to a lower order collapse as Harlow could only muster 180 all out with over 12 overs left unused. Captain Riz made 51, Oliver Allen 36 and Simon Baulcomb 22 but it wasn’t enough for once. The job had been done and with the title in the bag that extra bit of motivation is hard to dredge up after a long season and its no reflection at all to lose this game.

A magnificent season from all the 3rd XI and I especially look forward to writing up your end of season review.

Finally, to Marigolds and Harry Burton and the 2nd XI who themselves have had an excellent season. Today they signed off with a destructive performance showing no mercy to the visiting Loughton side. Having won the toss Harlow batted first and amassed a colossal 416 in 45 overs.

The main men were Arshad Muhammed (108) and Asad Baig (103*). Both men (pictured) played superb innings, making the most of the gorgeous batting surface prepared by groundsman Cliff Clark. Both men played with a freedom and attacking intent to grace any side. Also in the runs were Atif Mustehsan who made 68, Abdul Munim who capped a superb season with 36 and Jack Sykes who made an attacking 21 towards the close.

Loughton attempted to keep up with the ridiculous demands of the run rate but lost wickets quickly as 2nd XI debutants Haris Hamid and Ibtisam Baig took 5 victims between them (Haris 3-18 and Ibtisam 2-40) whilst leading 2nd XI wicket taker Jack Sykes claimed a brace himself. Amir Farooq (2-27) and Jake Hikmatshah were the other wicket takers in a commanding win.

Excellent seasons from all these sides. Prepare for a raft of end of season reports and stats galore in the coming days. Been an absolute pleasure to report on and work alongside each of yo