Essex League: Harold Wood hopes hit, Fives & Heronians climb

Wood sat 12 points off their second-placed rivals at the start of play, but now find themselves 26 adrift of the top two after the 41-run loss with two games remaining.

The hosts chose to bat and reached 120-2, before losing four wickets for 10 runs as Taqi Abbas and Eesa Faheem (2-9) struck twice each.

But their lower order combined to lift the total to 222, as Abbas finished with 3-41 and Shahbaz Khan (2-42) and Daniel Carter (2-53) returned to add to their earlier scalps.

Wood lost Dhruv Talati and Abbas cheaply to Jack Plom and Max Osborne to find themselves 26-2, but captain Craig Perrin (46) put on 97 with Faheem.

The young Faheem, having helped Wood’s under-16s win the Essex Matchplay Shield at the County Ground on Friday, hit nine fours in his 65, but Maruf Chowdhury failed to trouble the scorers to leave the visitors 147-5.

And Khan (21) and Craig Sampson were the only other batters to reach double figures as Wood were eventually dismissed for 181 in the 45th over.

Nathan Khelawon (4-30) was the pick of the Belhus bowling after Plom (2-18) and Osborne (2-33) nabbed braces.

Fives & Heronians moved up to fourth with an emphatic win over Upminster, who slipped to seventh.

Essex staffer Feroze Khushi hit 110 off 79 balls, with four sixes and 10 fours, to help Fives post 295-9 at The Paddock.

Khushi put on 83 with Jake Poulter (41) and 85 with Ross Ter Braak (26), as Nehal Butt (3-48) and Oliver Peck (3-82) took three wickets apiece.

Upminster lost captain Adam Wheater cheaply and slumped to 43-5 as Ter Braak (2-39) and Mehad Khan (3-26) made inroads.

Ollie White (20) and Kiran Kullar (35) were the only visiting batters to pass 12 as they were dismissed for 140, with Brad Copper taking 4-37.

Billericay slipped to fifth after losing to leaders Epping.

Put into bat, they were dismissed for 189 inside 40 overs, with Arjun Bhardwaj (47) their top scorer.

Louis Barrell (37) and Ross Poulton (22 not out) put on 59 for the ninth wicket, the best of the innings, before the visitors were reduced to 58-4.

Sarthak Kohli retired out on 69, having faced 122 balls, to help Epping to their target with five wickets and three overs to spare.

Gidea Park & Romford got the better of Ilford in a close-fought contest at Gallows Corner.

Shavawn Cunningham (42) and Aditya Kumar (45) put on 77 in the middle of Park’s innings to help them reach 227, after captain Jamal Francis hit five fours in his 21 off 20 at the start.

Akhil Anil (3-34) was the pick of Ilford’s bowling, as Mohammad Ahktar (2-27) and Kyan Lehal (2-59) nabbed braces, and Anil (24) and Ahktar (38) put on 57 for the first wicket in reply.

That proved the best partnership of Ilford’s innings, as wickets fell at regular intervals despite several batters making starts.

Akash Raji (30) and Gagan Bhogal (21) were the next highest scorers, but Park secured a nine-run win as Francis (3-56), Hasitha Nirmal (2-22) and Will Chuter (2-32) had most success with the ball.

Defeat leaves Ilford looking over their shoulder somewhat, with Old Brentwoods 23 points back following their win over basement boys Shenfield, whose relegation was confirmed.

Baber Chouhdary hit 86 off 77 balls as Brentwoods were put in and posted 215, with openers Krupesh Patel (31) and Hasnain Ali (40) also contributing with the bat.

Alex Rickenbach (4-38) and Christopher Bridle (3-36) were the pick of the bowling for Shenfield, but the visitor slumped to 60-5 in reply and were eventually dismissed for 148.

George Ballington (27) top scored, as Umaad Sultan (3-23), Choudhary (2-16) and Khalid Sarwar (2-23) shone for the home attack.