One Hand on the Title: Chelmsford Victorious Against Hadleigh!

Hadleigh & Thundersley Cricket Club hosted Chelmsford CC in the sixteenth round of fixtures in the Essex Premier Division on Saturday. The hosts, sitting comfortably at mid-table in fifth place were faced with an inform Chelmsford side who were looking to continue their run of six games unbeaten to place themselves firmly in control of the title. The visitors, having last faced defeat on Saturday 19th June to Wanstead, were also hoping that Brentwood would beat second place Wanstead to more than less confirm the 2021 title as theirs.

John H Burrows Recreation Ground - the home of Hadleigh & Thundersley Cricket Club.

Team News:

Chelmsford named a side with two changes from the win last week against Chingford. Aaron Beard is rested for James Liddiard and Mark Drain comes in for Andy Styan. Hadleigh and Thundersley are captained by Adam Dobson and Darius Vapiwala takes the gloves behind the stumps.

Chelmsford captain Jack Sterland won the toss and elected to bat first. Proceedings started well for the visitors as resident openers Sterland and Dan Hagen saw off Hadleigh’s opening bowlers to reach 46/0 after the first 10 overs. This good start from Chelmsford prompted the first bowling change for Hadleigh so Louis Poynter and Samuel Handley took the ball.

17 overs into the 45 over match, Sterland reached his half century coming off just 55 balls, prompting a ripple of applause from spectators and players. His sixth 50 of the season came after 64 minutes and included nine 4s.

However, the 18th over saw the hosts take their first wicket as Hagen chipped one to mid-off into the hands of Richard Revell from the bowling of Handley, meaning Hagen had to depart for 18 off 50. Handley with the first wicket of the match was looking to mirror his brilliant performance in the reverse fixture at Chelmer Park in which he took six wickets; including a hat-trick!

Hadleigh didn’t stop there though and things got worse for Chelmsford when Sterland nicked behind to keeper Darius Vapiwala off Poynter’s bowling in the next over. The Chelmsford skipper left the field with 54 runs off 60 balls and his side at 80/2 off 19 overs.

Chelmsford warm-up before the game in aim of getting into the match intensity and focus for their penultimate away game of the season.

Brothers Ben and James Clifford were the batting pair for the visitors and the two were looking well together. But six overs into their partnership, B. Clifford was adjudged LBW by the umpire from the bowling of Handley and exited the pitch on 16 off 27. Handley with his second wicket of the day placed Chelmsford at 115/3 after 26 overs.

Oliver Devenish joined J. Clifford and the two gritted it out for seven overs, bumping their side up to 137/3 from 33 overs. On the second ball of the 34th over, Devenish decided to take a wild slog off Revell’s straight ball which resulted in the stumps being uprooted from the ground. Therefore, Devenish was sent marching for a fair 13 off 22 and Chelmsford placed at 139/4. Revell’s wicket taking didn’t finish with Devenish as the Hadleigh seamer claimed the wicket of Jack Cook three balls later after the Chelmsford batsman edged one behind to keeper D. Vapiwala. To J. Cook’s frustration, he departed with a duck and the visitors sunk to 139/5 after Revell’s double wicket 34th over.

Brad Green now joined J. Clifford and the pair put to rest any unease of losing another quick wicket by solidifying and putting on a 42-run partnership in six overs. The combo was ended in the 41st over when J. Clifford was bowled by Poynter for very good 49 off 62, painfully missing out on a half century by one run. Chelmsford at 181/6 after 41 overs.

During the warm-ups there was a hint of murky clouds passing over the John H Burrows Recreational Ground. Throughout Chelmsford's batting innings they were faced with light showers but it didn't force them off.

With 4 overs of the first innings left, Liam Keaney joined Green and the two put on an important 20 before Green was run out on the penultimate ball of the innings. Mark Drain came to the crease to face the final ball with one aim which was to clear the boundary, but unfortunately this wouldn’t come into fruition as Poynter claimed his third wicket of the match after bowling Drain cleanly.

Chelmsford finished on 201/8 after 45 overs and set Hadleigh & Thundersley the target of 202 to win after lunch.

Hadleigh’s openers D. Vapiwala and Richard Harding were tasked with setting the home side off to a good start with the visitors opening the bowling with seamers Keaney and Drain.

Alarmingly for the host’s, their reply of 201 started terribly as they lost their first three wickets in the first five overs! Opening wicket-keeper batsman D. Vapiwala was bowled by Drain in the second over on Drain’s second ball for 1 off 7, placing Hadleigh at 6/1. In the next over, Keaney bowled a brilliant wicket-maiden which claimed the wicket of Harding for just 2 runs off 4 balls, putting the home side at 6/2 after the batsman edged one to B. Clifford with a fantastic diving catch. Keaney then also claimed the third wicket in the fifth over after Adam Forbes nicked one behind to keeper Green, which meant Hadleigh were 12/3 after the first 5 overs.

Trouble for Hadleigh after the first over as the scoreboard reads 4/1 off 1.

Watch the videos below to see Ben Clifford's solid diving catch off Richard Harding and Liam Keaney's dismissal of Adam Forbes:

Chelmsford’s electric start was very well halted by Handley and Jack Wagstaff as the pair stuck in and reached the end 12th over in which was the conclusion of the opening bowler’s spells. Hadleigh were boosted up to 47/3 and the scoreboard was looking slightly better after Handley’s and Wagstaff’s interventions.

The introduction of spin proved to be an instant success for Sterland and his side as J. Clifford had Wagstaff playing one into the hands of Drain. Like Drain, J. Clifford claimed his first wicket of the day in his second ball. Wagstaff exited for a good 23 off 24 and Hadleigh were 47/4 after J. Clifford’s wicket-maiden 13th over.

Hadleigh and Thundersley’s innings declined again as they lost their 5th wicket in the next over. Seamer Drain had Handley edging one behind to keeper Green, meaning the batsman departed for 14 off 37 and placed Hadleigh at 53/5 after 14 overs.

Ben Waring coming in to bowl for Chelmsford with the scoreboard behind him reading 67/5.

The fall of two quick wickets brought Adam Soilleux and Ruben Vapiwala to the crease and the pair nicely soaked up twelve overs together before Chelmsford claimed their next wicket. Soilleux and R. Vapiwala put on a 21-run partnership across the twelve overs and batted intelligently to not throw away their wickets and keep their side in with somewhat of a chance of claiming a result. In the 27th over, Ben Waring ended the pairing after he had R. Vapiwala nicking off to keeper Green for 11 off 39 and placed Hadleigh at 74/6.

Haider Ali Syed Zaidi joined Soilleux and the two portrayed some very good middle order batting for Hadleigh and Thundersley by picking the gaps and being rewarded with half a dozen boundaries. This set their side into triple figures and onto 110/6 after 36 overs. After being hit for four 4s by Soilleux in his previous over, the combination was broken by James Liddiard after he banged one into Soilleux’s front pad which was judged LBW by the umpire and thus the batsman was sent on his way. A fairly good 38 off 73 for Hadleigh’s number six. Hadleigh were 115/7 after 37 overs.

Dobson linked up with Zaidi for the next six overs to bump their side up to 151 after an adequate 36 run partnership but the game looked twenty to thirty runs out of Hadleigh’s reach. Therefore, Zaidi and Dobson were resorted to trying to clear the rope, in which they executed pretty well, but it inevitably led to the loss of their wickets.

After smashing J. Clifford straight and over the top twice in a row (one over the netting and out of the ground into a neighbour’s front garden), Dobson was bowled on the last ball of the 44th over. He departed for a very decent 31 off 25 and Hadleigh were 166/8.

Zaidi soon followed as Keaney had him hitting one into the hands of Hagen the ball after, which meant the number 8 exited for a fine 37 off 51.

With 5 balls remaining, Revell and Poynter were faced with an impossible target but remained unbeaten and Hadleigh’s innings finished on 171/9 after 45 overs. Meaning Chelmsford take home a 30-run victory and their 7th win in a row. Also with Brentwood beating Wanstead by 39 runs, the 1st XI Division 1 title is almost certainly Chelmsford’s (barring a catastrophic collapse of batting and bowling when they play second placed Wanstead and third placed Brentwood in the last two remaining games of the season).

Only 4 bonus points needed now for Chelmsford to be crowned champions!

A rare sight: Chelmsford captain Jack Sterland pictured here fielding out in the deep and not in his usual position of 1st slip. He'll be hoping to lead his team to title champions next Saturday against Wanstead at Chelmer Park.

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