HARLOW CC First XI maintained their outstanding mid season form to comfortably beat promotion rivals Leigh on Sea at Marigolds on Saturday. In truth, the six wicket victory should have been even more one sided but for profligate moments in the field. Three dropped catches enabled a floundering Leigh side recover to post a total significantly larger than they should have been allowed to achieve.

Harlow captain, Ben Yeats, won the toss and surprised his opposite number by electing to bowl despite the sweltering conditions. Yeats had judged the best route to victory in this time format fixture was to chase and subsequent events proved him right.

Having made that decision it was vital Harlow took early wickets and it was the ever reliable Joe Riddell who made the initial inroads. In only the third over he trapped visiting danger man Issac Wohlsen LBW for just 2 and struck again shortly afterwards. Opener Spencer was just starting to strike the ball well when he miscued a pull and Abdul Munim made ground to pull off a superb one handed catch.

With Riddell backed up by Muhammed Umar Raza the Harlow opening bowlers had set the tone which was beautifully followed by spin pair Chris Whitworth and Jake Messenger.

Whitworth struck twice in his first over leaving Leigh reeling on 52-4 before he and Messenger struck again in consecutive overs. When the last big Leigh threat with the bat despatched the ball invitingly straight to long off a simple catch looked inevitable only for the ball to spill to the turf. Vanlint was on just 11 at the time but would go on to nurse the Leigh tail and make 67 before Yeats tempted him into another aerial shot confidently pouched by George Jessey.

Jessey and Yeats took further wickets as Leigh closed their innings on 211-9. No doubt Harlow would have willingly accepted that as a chaseable total before a ball was bowled but the missed catches had probably cost them at least 60 unnecessary runs.

Riddell 2-42 (10), Umar Raza 0-18 (6), Whitworth 3-60 (13), Messenger 1-30 (9), G. Jessey 1-23 (8) and Yeats 2-14 (2)

It surely indisputable that Harlow possess the strongest opening batsmen in the division and they are crucial to setting a platform and confidence to the home batting.

The Harlow pair were brutal in finding the boundary with anything remotely loose as the scoreboard ticked over nicely. When the partnership reached 50 Whitworth opened up and took the lead in attacking at will whilst partner Yeats rotated strike more conservatively.

When Whitworth finally fell for 77 less than 80 were needed for victory. Yeats reached his half century before misjudging a sweep and being judged leg before for 64. Zabi Hakimi made a handy 26 before Abdul Munim (10) and Alfie Jessey (14) delivered the last rites with overs to spare.

Harlow remain in third but have halved the deficit to Leigh on Sea who remained in the second promotion slot despite defeat today.

A fifth straight win and the spirit and confidence of the side is clear to see. Putting the dropped catches to one side the remaining fielding was admirably committed and athletic. There is still plenty of work to be done but could this finally be Harlow’s year to achieve promotion?