Essex League: Harold Wood take spoils, Ilford cheer too

Harold Wood earned the bragging rights in their Hamro Foundation Essex League Division One derby at Upminster.

Shahbaz Khan dismissed Australian Beau Webster for a second-ball duck, but stand-in captain Pulkit Gupta (59) put on 108 with Kiran Kullar (51).

Muhammad Ahmad and Harry Jenkins scored 25 apiece as Upminster closed on 214-9, with Harry Thompson (2-37) and Taqi Abbas (2-42) nabbing braces for Wood in a good all-round effort by their attack.

Abbas fell cheaply to Max Carter-Miller in reply, but Eesa Faheem put on 53 with Dhruv Talati, who hit a six and seven fours in his 67 from 87 balls before chipping Shafiq Rahman (2-40) to Gupta.

Captain Craig Perrin (65 not out) and Khan shared an unbroken 108-run stand to seal a seven-wicket win, with the latter hitting an unbeaten 52 off 35 balls.

Ilford were also celebrating after beating Old Brentwoods by six wickets at Valentines Park.

Baber Choudhary (51) top scored as the old boys were dismissed for 175, with Mohammad Ahktar the pick of the bowling with 5-25 from a 16-over spell.

The hosts slipped to 48-3 as Kabir Rashid (3-41) made early inroads, but Akash Raji put on 94 with captain Haaris Ayub (38).

And Raji finished unbeaten on 87 from 105 balls, having hit a six and 13 fours, as the target was reached in the 41st over.

Fives & Heronians came up just short in their draw at Billericay, who were dismissed for 199.Rowan Elliott (44), Louis BArrell (36) and Michael Pearn (31) made the leading contributions with the bat, as Qasim Nasiri (4-16) took bowling honours for Fives.

But the visitors, reduced to 96-5, eventually closed on 194-8 with Ross Ter Braak unbeaten on 74, after Arjun Bhardwaj took 3-58.

Gidea Park & Romford’s clash with Shenfield also ended in a draw at Gallows Corner, after they posted 215-6.

Sam Hewitt (47) and skipper Jamal Francis (46) put on 96 for the first Park wicket, with Mahmad Alikhail (43) and George Rogers (33) sharing 72 for the fifth wicket.

Stalin Kurian (3-60) and Christopher Bridle (2-37) shared the wickets to fall, but Shenfield lost early wickets in reply and looked in trouble at 86-7.

Hasitha Nirmal (5-44) did most of the damage with the ball for Park, with captain David Hickey (28) and Tom Arnold (20) the only Shenfield batters to pass 20.

But Bridle hit a run-a-ball 78, with a six and 14 fours, in an unbroken 92-run stand with Alex Rickenbach to see the visitors safely to the close at 193-8.