Chelmsford Are Champions!
- Oakley Bromfield
- Sep 1, 2021
- 6 min read
Chelmsford Cricket Club were confirmed as champions of the Essex 1st XI Premier Division on Saturday after claiming victory over second placed Wanstead & Snaresbrook CC by two runs. Although the win was clinched with just two runs and two balls to spare, Chelmsford only needed to take three wickets during Wanstead’s innings to be confirmed as champions. Still with one game remaining, it was an extremely remarkable season for the Chelmer Park boys which saw them take 13 wins out of the 17 played, with two games abandoned, one drawn and only one lost, which was away to Wanstead.
Chelmsford’s fantastic season wasn’t just illustrated through the performances of the first team though. Their second team were also crowned champions of their league, the Essex 2nd XI Premier Division, on Saturday. Incredibly they remain unbeaten all season with 14 wins out of 17 played, with two abandoned and one draw.
The 3rd XI of Chelmsford Cricket Club are within contention of the Essex 3rd XI Division One title. They require a win in the last game on the coming Saturday which could see Chelmsford take 3 league titles in one season but they rely on results to go their way.
Team News:
Chelmsford named a side with one change from last week's victory away at Hadleigh & Thundersley. Batsman Robert Catchpole returns in place of bowler James Liddiard, with normalities of Brad Green taking the gloves and Jack Sterland captaining the side.
Wanstead & Snaresbrook are captained by Ellis-Grewal with Jonathan Das as the wicket-keeper.
After a brief midday drizzle, play begun at Chelmer Park with the hosts placed into bat by the visitors, as Wanstead captain Joe Ellis-Grewal won the toss and elected to field first. The choice paid off, more or less instantly, as the extremely-inform Chelmsford opening batsman and captain, Jack Sterland, edged one behind in the 3rd over. Even though he was caught by keeper Jonathan Das from the bowling of Eshun Kalley for 6 off 14, it did see Sterland surpass the thousand league run milestone by one run; therefore, putting him on a phenomenal 1001 runs.
Wanstead had Chelmsford at 8/1 after the first three overs and things got worse for the home side as number three Ben Clifford was bowled by Kalley in the 5th over via an off-cutter. B. Clifford departed for 5 off 10 and Chelmsford were 15/2.
James Clifford was next in for the hosts and with opener Dan Hagen the two were looking good, seeing off nearly seven overs together but on the last ball of the 12th over J. Clifford played one into the hands of Nabeel Aziz from Zain Shahzad’s bowling. The Chelmsford number 4 left the field with 7 off 23 and his side at 32/3 after 12 overs.
Robert Catchpole was next to join Hagen at the crease but only a handful of runs were added to the score before the next wicket was claimed by Wanstead. Four overs after J. Clifford’s departure, Hagen was to join him as he nicked one behind to J. Das off Kishen Velani’s bowling and had to exit the field for 19 runs from 43 balls. Chelmsford were reduced to 46/4 from 16 overs and were on their way to collapsing to a low score.
However, Oliver Devenish teamed up with Catchpole and an extremely important partnership blossomed between the two. Across 15 overs, Catchpole and Devenish put on a highly appreciated 76-run partnership before Wanstead could break the pair in the 32nd over. The wicket of Catchpole came when he was adjudged LBW by the umpire from the bowling of Wanstead captain Ellis-Grewal, for a crucial 49 off 61, thus painfully missing out on a half century by one run. After Catchpole’s efforts with Devenish, Chelmsford were boosted to 124/5 after 32 overs.
Devenish orchestrated another essential middle order partnership after Jack Cook’s introduction to the game. Devenish and J. Cook combined throughout 10 overs at the crease together to score a 50-run partnership which put their side on 172/5 before Wanstead could claim their next wicket. After smashing one for four to reach the 50-partnership with Devenish, J. Cook was stumped on the next ball by keeper J. Das off Jahansher Akbar’s bowling. J. Cook departed for a very good 25 off 40.
Devenish secured his half century off 66 balls in the 42nd over after spending 89 minutes at the crease and hitting six 4s.
With 43 overs gone Chelmsford were 177/6 with two overs left of their innings.
The visitors took their next wicket in the penultimate over as Brad Green was bowled by Shahzad for 4 off 4. In the last over of the first innings, Kalley took the two wickets of Liam Keaney and Mark Drain and Chelmsford finished on 192/9 off 45 overs, with Devenish remaining undefeated on 57 not out from 72 balls.
Wanstead started their innings similarly to Chelmsford as they lost their opening batsman in the 3rd over after Tom Simmons played one into the hands of Dan Hagen off Keaney’s delivery. Simmons left with just 1 off 10 and Wanstead were 19/1. Robin Das was next in at number three and united with Velani to put on a superb 84-run partnership across nearly 18 overs to put slight worry in the minds of the Chelmsford faithful. The second wicket comradery from the two saw them reach their 50-partnership in the 17th over and Velani made his half century in the 20th over after facing 48 balls and hitting four 4s and three 6s in 62 minutes. However, the Wanstead opener couldn’t extend from that as he was bowled by Ben Waring in the next over which ended his innings on a positive strike rate with a very good 54 off 51. Wanstead were 103/2 after 21 overs.
Adnan Akram joined R. Das but only briefly as he sliced a Waring delivery to gully/point in which Hagen was situated and departed for 2 off 16. The ticking off of Wanstead’s third wicket meant that Chelmsford had mathematically secured the league title, but celebrations were only minimal as the hosts were still concentrated on getting the victory. Chelmsford placed Wanstead at 113/3 after 27 overs.
Watch the video below to see the wicket:
J. Das and R. Das were the two batsmen at the crease following Akram’s departure but the brothers couldn’t form a formidable partnership as keeper Green stumped J. Das in the 29th over following a Waring delivery. J. Das exited with 11 from 6.
The next over saw another wicket fall when Arfan Akram was bowled by Devenish for a duck after facing six balls and Wanstead fell to 131/5 after 30 overs.
Wanstead had something to celebrate when R. Das reached his well fought half-century in the 31st over, after 95 balls and 90 minutes in which he hit five 4s.
Ellis-Grewal joined R. Das but the Wanstead captain was the next to depart after he scored 4 off 12. His wicket was taken after he played one into J. Clifford from Devenish’s bowling in the 34th over. The away side were 146/6.
After witnessing a plethora of batsmen fall, R. Das was joined by Nabeel Aziz but it only took Chelmsford three overs to take the wicket of the new batsman. Aziz was caught and bowled by J. Clifford in the 37th over after he chipped one straight back where it came from. Wanstead were reduced to 162/7 and Chelmsford were sniffing for victory.
R. Das introduced Kalley to the crease as his sixth batting partner of the innings but after three and a half overs, R. Das lost another partner as Kalley was adjudged LBW from the umpire off J. Clifford’s bowling. Kalley left with 2 runs to his name from 13 balls and his side were 170/8 after 41 overs.
Four balls after Kalley’s wicket was taken, Chelmsford claimed the 9th wicket when Keaney had Shahzad trapped LBW for 3 off 3.
Wanstead were 177/9 after 42 overs and required 16 runs to win from 3 overs at a run-rate of just over 5, or exactly 5 to draw.
With Chelmsford edging closer to victory and only needing one wicket to reach it, Wanstead’s last wicket stand aimed to see off the remaining three overs whilst scoring 5 runs per over. An incredibly tight finish was wrapped up with Chelmsford claiming victory after a brilliant stumping from Green off J. Clifford’s bowling in the penultimate ball of the last over after R. Das looked to hit the two needed to win. R. Das finished on a classy 75 runs off 134 balls but couldn’t get the last two needed for Wanstead to win.
The Winning Moment! - watch the last wicket of the match below:
After this brilliantly close finish and entertaining match between Chelmsford and Wanstead, the 2021 title belongs to Chelmsford with Wanstead and Brentwood to battle it out for second place on the last game of the season. The runners-up position, which is currently separated by two points, will be confirmed next week after Brentwood welcome Chelmsford and Wanstead host Colchester.
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