1st XI Report

HARLOW’S 1st XI continued their strong run of form on Saturday with a commanding 8-wicket win over Newham CC at Marigolds, making it four league victories in a row and keeping them top of the Essex League Division Three table.

The performance was a well-rounded one with moments of brilliance with bat and ball, a century to remember, and both bowling and batting units that continued to fire.

After winning the toss, skipper Tom Garner had opted to bowl first given Harlow’s current record of chasing, and the seamers got to work quickly on a very good batting surface.

Newham were rocked early, reduced to 0-2, with the first breakthrough a moment of brilliance when Joe Riddell found the edge, and Tom Garner himself took a stunning one-handed diving catch at second slip, a real captain’s moment that set the tone. From the other end, David Waters produced a textbook delivery to hit the top of off stump, removing the second opener in style.

At 0-2, Newham were under pressure, but Khawar Khurshid batted beautifully to swing momentum back their way. He struck 53 off 37 balls, playing aggressively on a true pitch and taking advantage of some loose fielding including two dropped chances to push Newham past 100.

The breakthrough came when Harlow’s leading wicket-taker of the season, George Jessey, was brought into the attack. He responded as he so often has this year with a key three-wicket spell that dismantled the middle order. His 3-36 off 10 was full of control, variation, and calm under pressure.

Rhys Stewart bowled tidily through the middle overs without reward, and kept things tight as Harlow tried to wrestle back control.

Newham’s number 8, Abdul Haseeb Tota Khel, played a chaotic but entertaining knock hitting out for 46 not out off 30 balls but David Waters returned to clean up the tail, claiming his fifth wicket and finishing with superb figures of 5-43 from 13.3 overs. This was his first 5-wicket haul for Harlow and was fully deserved.

Newham were eventually bowled out for 176 in 41.3 overs which was not only a below par total on the surface but one which should have been lower given the chances.

The chase started shakily with Chris Whitworth nicking behind early for 1, undone by a wide delivery from Khurshid. But from there, it was the David Waters & Matt Hurley show.

Waters, fresh off five wickets, played with maturity and class, rotating the strike, punishing anything short, and building a rock-solid foundation. His 60 off 65 balls (9 fours) anchored the innings and took all the pressure out of the chase.

At the other end, Matt Hurley was showing how much he enjoys batting against Newham having scored 94 in the first fixture .He struck the ball to all parts with elegant drives, fierce pulls, and clearing the boundary as he raced through the 90s. With just two needed to win and himself on 94, he launched what looked like a six, only for the fielder to tip it over the rope while judged to still be inside the boundary. No matter. Next ball, same result this time no doubts. A huge six brought up his maiden Harlow century, finishing on a glorious 100 not out off just 67 balls, with 15 fours and 4 sixes. A dream innings in what has been a fantastic start to his Harlow Career.

This was another excellent team performance. Tom Garner set the tone with that crucial early catch. Riddell, Jessey, and Waters continue to lead the way with the ball, and the batting unit looks well settled with contributions across the top and middle order.

There were still areas to improve as more dropped catches and some misfields left room for frustration but the overall quality and control never dropped.

Harlow remain top of Division Three and welcome Neo CC to Marigolds next Saturday, looking to make it five wins in a row and build a bigger points gap on the chasing pack.

2nd XI Report

First Innings: Old Southendian & Southchurch – 290/8 (50 overs)

Harlow’s bowlers were made to work hard on a flat Garon Park track, as the home side posted a formidable total. The highlight of the innings was a superb century by H Clarke (116 from 114 balls), supported by F Payne (55*) and M Aqeel (34 off 20), who added some late fireworks.

Bowling Standouts:

Jack Fuller led the attack brilliantly with figures of 3 for 42.
Jake Messenger chipped in with 2 for 43, bowling with good rhythm.
Matthews, Farooq, and R Fuller claimed a wicket each.

Despite the large total, Harlow showed great discipline in the field and continued to fight hard throughout the innings.

Second Innings: Harlow CC – 164/6 (45 overs)

Chasing a steep target, Harlow’s top order struggled to build momentum. However, a resilient middle-order stand kept the team in the game and helped secure a draw.

Batting Highlights:

Waqas Azam anchored the innings with a gritty 49 off 89 balls.
Rizwan Qayyum supported well with a patient 43 from 86 deliveries.
Soulat Ali added a brisk 18 late on to ease pressure.

Despite losing early wickets, the team held firm and played out the remaining overs to secure a valuable 5 bonus points from a hard-fought draw.

Captain’s Reflection:

“A tough day in the field but proud of the lads for digging in. We bowled with heart against a strong batting side and showed resilience with the bat to see out the draw. We’ll take the positives and go again next week.”

3rd XI Report

Harlow won the toss and elected to field and we got off to a great start picking up a wicket early on, Jahaur bowled brilliantly in his opening spell picking up 4 wickets and also being backed up by Harris at the other end as well.

Throughout the innings we kept the pressure on by picking up wickets regularly. One of their batsman reached 50 in a mini rebuild although he was stumped but the umpire wasn’t watching!! Illford were 140-8 where another controversial moment happened where their batsman edged it and didn’t walk and the umpire didn’t give the decision!! After 50 overs Ilford scored 191 and it was a very good effort from everyone in the field!! 

J Afaq 4/41, T Dobson 3/34, A Moiz 1/25, F Javed 1/43, H Hamid 0/25

Now it was our turn to bat and it was the perfect run chase!! Both batsman started off scoring boundaries nearly every over but also taking quick singles in between to put the pressure back on the bowlers. Arshad scored a superb 107 not out with Dip also supporting him with 84 not out!! Watching the shots that both batsman were playing was a joy to watch and they made the run chase look easy with us chasing down 191 in 27.5 overs and without us losing a wicket!! Again massive well done to Arshad for getting his first 100 of the season!!

Arshad 107*, Dip 84*

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4th XI Report

Harlow won the toss and decided to field first. W&S amassed 305/8 dec off of 41 overs. The runs flowed on a very quick outfield of short boundaries. It was either one run or 4.

Elliot Koopowitz picked up 2-41 & also picking up two wickets a piece from Liam Coldwell 2-59 and Freno Fahad 2-63 and one for Emilia Allen 1-56. Outstanding fielding effort in soaring heat, though sounds a lot of runs, it could have been a lot worse.

In response, Harlow got off to a solid start with Elliott Koopowitz (22) and Billy Clark (64) putting on 62 for the first wicket. It was Billy’s 2nd half century in 2 games, and he looked in good touch before being caught in the deep looking to press the accelerator down for quick runs.

Freno Fahad (63) and Alex Coldwell (46) put a partnership of 90 in around 15 overs and never looked in trouble, Freno smashing three huge 6s out of the ground into the nearby houses! Alex was caught on the boundary in a most spectacular catch, worthy of a pro circuit effort.

Was good to watch and the tempo was going along fine until both got out with over a 100 still needed off of 13 overs.

The momentum for a charge for an improbable win was derailed so, the returning Myles Baldock held up the home sides assault to get wickets by blocking up one end whilst Oscar Syrett (21*) played some shots, including a reverse sweep for 4! Highlight off the day for sure.

Harlow ended up on 245/5 off of 54 overs, a great effort against a strong team who’d beaten us easily the previous week.

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5th XI Report

On yet another blisteringly hot Saturday afternoon Harlow arrived at Little Barfield, lost the toss and were put in the field.

With another young team, unfortunately down on numbers this week we started off fantastically with the ball.

Opening bowlers Lia Fisk and Benjamin Dack between them picked up 3 early wickets in the first few overs to have the hosts 3 down for just 2 runs.
The experience of their openere quickly showed and he started to put on some runs but a steady flow of wickets kept us in the game when half way they were 111-5.

Then came a partnership to help pile on some runs for the home team, but then bringing the opening bowlers back and picking up another couple of wickets with some incredibly good catching the home team finished on 193-9

A really good bowling performance without a full quota in the field.

Benjamin Dack 3-40 ( off 7 )
Lia Fisk 2-38 ( off 6 )
Daniel Knight 1-14 ( off 5 )

Harlow started well in the reply with Jack Sykes rolling back the years with a very well played 30 giving us a solid base to build on with support from Waleed Ahmed making his debut for Harlow.

He hit a solid 22 before nicking one behind off their promising young bowler. That brought Lawrence Forde to the crease who super kindly offered to come play last minute. He came in and played well above his young age, playing in the balls nicely into the gaps and picking up fours where available and ended on 37 not out. Another well composed individual innings.

With the run rate going up and overs running out we tried to see if we could hit our way to victory but sadly we couldn’t, but a good last partnership between Benjamin Dack and Lawrence Forde made sure we saw out the rest of our overs to fall just short of the target.

But again so much more experience was learnt from this game for the young players involved and the older ones too and we keep making sure we do the basics right and keep moving forward and I’m pretty sure we’re not far away from getting that first winner the season.

Could not be prouder the way the team played in this game and thank you to all those who came to help out to make sure we could even get this game on. Without you, it wouldn’t be possible.

Jack Sykes 30
Laurence Forde 37 N.O
Ahmed Waleed 22