1st XI Report

HARLOW opened their 2025 league season with a trip to London Eagles on a warm May afternoon, donning coloured kit and pink ball for the first time in competitive league action. Despite a strong team performance featuring two 1st XI debutants and a late innings surge with the bat, Harlow came up just short, falling to a 4-wicket defeat in a game they’ll feel slipped away.

There was a buzz around the ground before the first ball with Matt Hurley and Harris Hamid both making their 1st XI debuts and Matt made an instant impression. After being put in to bat on a soft pitch with indifferent bounce, scoring was difficult early on. Openers Matt Hurley and Chris Whitworth laid the foundations with a composed and patient partnership. Chris stroked a fluent 24, while debutant Matt top-scored with an excellent 45, navigating the toughest part of the innings before falling LBW.

From there, David Waters (38), Raihan Hussain (16) and Waheed Azam (19) all chipped in with vital middle-order contributions, working hard against a trio of tidy London Eagles spinners who slowed the scoring and clawed the home side back into the game.

At 161-6, Harlow looked as if they had enough in tough scoring conditions but felt as if they deserved more after sticking in during the challenging spells up top. But George Jessey (28)* and Andre Riddell (42)* changed the tone completely, putting together an outstanding, unbeaten partnership to lift Harlow to 231-6 from 50 overs. They batted with intent and confidence, accelerating perfectly in the final 10 overs to post a competitive score on what was now a much flatter surface.

With the pink ball swinging generously early on, Harlow’s new ball pair of Joe Riddell and David Waters created pressure but no early wickets. A couple of edges fell short or wide, and the Eagles capitalised, punishing any width, length and balls drifting straight.

Once into rhythm Dave Waters showed his pace taking the edge which was followed by a smart catch from Waheed Azam at second slip. The next over, Joe Riddell then found the edge and once again, Waheed Azam provided the grab. Chris Whitworth and Rhys Stewart added further breakthroughs to peg back the Eagles. Whitworth and Stewart both went for just 31 runs and really clawed Harlow back into the game. George Jessey was given the tough task of bowling at the back end of the game, claiming two important wickets to give Harlow a real chance but unfortunately it was the fielding let the side down at crucial moments.

At least four drops (arguably five) and a bumpy outfield allowed key batters like Foysol Ahmed (71) and Shakeel Ahmed (60)* to survive and rebuild after a shaky start. Despite the pressure applied by the spinners, London Eagles were able to chase down the total in the 47th over, finishing on 233-6.

Although Harlow left empty-handed, the performance was far from disappointing. Runs from across the batting order, a superb late partnership, economical spells from key bowlers, and a debut to remember for Matt Hurley all provided reasons to be optimistic.

That said, Harlow will know they left opportunities out there. Dropped catches, a few sloppy fielding moments, and some missed chances with the new ball proved costly on the day.

There’s no time to dwell, with a return to Newham next week, this time in the league. It’s a familiar opponent and an early opportunity to notch the first league win of the season one the squad will be determined to take. If Harlow can tidy up their fielding and continue to build on the promising performances with bat and ball, a strong season lies ahead.

Match Summary:
• Harlow CC: 231-6
(Matt Hurley 45, Andre Riddell 42*, David Waters 38, George Jessey 28*)
• London Eagles: 233-6
(Foysol Ahmed 71, Shakeel Ahmed 60, George Jessey 1-51, Rhys Stewart 2-31, Chris Whitworth 1-31)

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3rd XI Report

Harlow won the toss and elected to bowl first and the game started perfectly with Oliver Allen getting a caught and bowled in the very first over of the game. However as everyone knows who has played at Woodford Wells, the runs are very hard to stop and Woodford Wells started to build some partnerships and scoring at a quick rate. Harlow’s effort in the field was really good throughout the 45 overs and we kept picking up important wickets throughout the middle overs to keep us in the game. Woodford Wells ended up scoring 292 which was a par score at that ground. 

T Dobson 2/47, F Javed 2/75, O Allen 1/52, Z Ali 1/64, I Shoukat 0/44, R Williams 0/9

We struggled a little bit at the start of our run chase losing a couple of early wickets, however a nice partnership was starting to form between Naseer and Simon. The runs were never really an issue and it was more the wickets that was becoming an issue after Naseer was out for 36. Simon got a well earned 53 but was running out of partners at the other end. Harlow got bowled out for 201 with still 15 overs remaining which was frustrating but we definitely had some positives coming out from the first game of the season. 

S Baulcomb 53, N Mirza 36, A Mustehsan 35

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5th XI Report

Harlow 5th Xl v Little Bardfield 

After losing the toss we were put into field after a good start from the first 20 overs getting 4 wickets and some excellent fielding from Laurence Forde. They were all out for 315 

In response started a bit nervous and tentative despite some good resilience from Oscar and Adam it wasn’t enough and sadly lost but more than enough positives to build on against a very good side.

O Syrett 15 
A Dack 19 
N Forde 2-32
O Syrett 1 catch 1 stumping