Week 4 – Shepherd Neame Essex League

Weekend Match Sponsor – Robert Froud, ex Stort CC player, Club #1 cap.

1st XI Report – by Neil Gladwin

Horndon on the Hill v Harlow Town

Harlow Town 189-8 declared (46 overs)
Horndon on the Hill 162-9 (43 overs)
Match Drawn

Harlow Town visited Horndon on the Hill on Saturday off the back of two narrow draws, where they nearly got themselves over the line.

Welcomed by fine drizzle the start of the game was delayed for 25 minutes, resulting in the overs split being reduced to 46 for the side batting first and 43 for the side batting second.

Upon winning the toss, Gladwin had no hesitation in batting on a wicket, which had been covered throughout the drizzle, that looked hard, knowing the wet outfield would cause problems for the home sides bowling attack.
Harlow Town’s regular openers, Ali and Alderson, got the visitors off to an excellent start. Both players batted with controlled aggression, punishing anything short or overpitched. Their opening stand of 77 was probably worth another 30 as the wet and long outfield meant numerous glorious drives from the pair held up in the outfield.

Alderson was first to go, cutting a short wide delivery straight to point for 38. His obvious disappointment was evident as he left the field. Ali soon followed his partner for 31, gloving a sweep shot through to the impressive Walsh behind the stumps. The experienced pair of Holland and Gladwin looked to continue their good recent form, but their partnership was short lived as Holland, playing his favourite pull shot, was spectacularly caught on the deep mid wicket boundary. The returning Hurley was next to go, bowled by a beautiful leg cutter, bringing Powell to the crease. Powell tried to be forceful, hitting two sumptuous drives down the ground, however he was undone by visiting captain, West, as he was enticed to find the fielder on the long on boundary. The fielder, eventually taking the catch low to the ground after juggling the initial chance.

Throughout his innings, Gladwin had tried to remain solid, but on a slow wicket, combined with a very slow outfield, he couldn’t find the gaps as regularly as he would’ve liked, eventually under edging a short, wide delivery through the keeper for 18. Yates and Farmer batted well together, with Yates being the aggressor, as the pair but on over 50 and taking Harlow Town to maximum batting points, before Yates was stumped for 36 and Farmer finished unbeaten on 13. Harlow Town finished their innings on 189-8 off their allotted 46 overs, which was worth at least another 30 on a different outfield.
Harlow Town knew that their score was above par and Horndon needed to bat well to have a chance of winning. They also knew that they had to bowl well and catch well to register their first win of the season.

Chris Powell bowled with great hostility in his opening spell, beating the bat on a number of occasions, before finding Walsh’s edge to be caught behind with the score on 16. Farmer had bowled tidily at the other end, but it was the introduction of Has Ali that earned Harlow Town their second wicket as he had Stone caught at mid off by Shiraz Ali. Wickets then started to tumble as first, a comical run out, left both players at one end as opener Canavon was run out, then Sweet was clean bowled by the returning Powell. Captain and danger man survived a chance first ball, but in the next over lobbed Daniel Farmer to Shiraz Ali in the covers. Next to go was Plom, also comprehensively cleaned up by Powell. Horndon, at this point were 73-6 and had clear instructions to try to hang on for the draw. After a few overs of blocking from Herndon’s Iqbal and Stitson, Gladwin decided to try to entice Horndon by giving them a chance to win the game themselves. Introducing Simon Rowell and setting attacking fields and then himself, it was clear the plan was to get Horndon out of their defensive mindset. Gladwin’s plan nearly came to fruition as Rowell created two chances and Gladwin himself created a chance. With Horndon’s minds now on an unlikely win, Gladwin reintroduced Ali and Farmer back into the attack. Both bowlers grabbing a wicket apiece as Horndon found themselves on 158-7. Powell then knocked over number 10 Marson and at 161-9 with 12 balls remaining, Harlow Town were on the brink of their first league victory of the season. However, even with plays and misses, neither Farmer, nor Powell could get the decisive 10th wicket as Harlow Town were left frustrated for the second week running.
Powell finished with 4-26, Farmer 2-33 and Ali 2-20.
Gladwin responded after the game by saying “We tried everything we could to get ourselves over the line. Throwing the ball up to get them back into the game could’ve back fired, but sometimes you need to risk losing a match to win it. I thought the way Ashley and Shiraz batted up front for us, set us up for a bigger than par score. Both players balanced their own games beautifully and both found a way to get themselves out unfortunately. The wicket was difficult to start on, so it was great to see Pat score freely towards the end of the innings to give us a score that I was always confident of defending.
We bowled really well again on a wicket that offered more for our seam attack than has been on offer for the past two weeks. It was just so disappointing not to get over the line again. If we had scored 2 more runs last week and taken 1 more wicket this week, we would find ourselves 3rd in the league. The signs are there and we are fighting well as a team, we just need to ensure that we hang on to the chances that are offered to us.”
Harlow Town take on recently promoted Old Southendians on Saturday at home.

2nd XI Report – by Wade Norcott

Harlow Town II v Ardleigh Green II

Ardleigh Green 97-8 (22.3 overs)
Harlow Town 98-1 (22.5 overs)
Harlow Town won by 9 wickets

3rd XI Report – by John Simpson

Woodford Green III v Harlow Town III

Harlow Town 105-10 (34.1 overs)
Woodford Green 106-9 (34.3 overs)
Woodford Green won by 1 wicket

4th XI Report – by Nick Teale

Harlow Town IV v Gidea Park & Romford IV

Harlow Town 125-10 (37.5 overs)
Gidea Park & Romford 129-4 (28.1 overs)
Gidea Park & Romford won by 6 wickets