At the beginning of the week, prospects of getting four friendly fixtures looked decidedly poor. Two scheduled opposition sides had pulled out and the remaining side insisted on playing at their ground although the game should have been at Rawreth Lane. Matt Walker came up trumps with three more games which resulted in one win, two defeats and a draw on a beautiful sunny afternoon.
A 1st XI visited Shepherd & Neame side Ardleigh Green1st XI, who batting first amassed 320-7 in their 40 overs, Sam Verrinder taking 2-58. Rayleigh finished on 237-9 with Rhys Howard (43), Steven Lynch (35) and Richard Verrinder (32*) leading the scoring.
A mainly 2nd and 3rd XI entertained Herts & Essex League side Nazeing Common 2nd XI and batting first Rayleigh were bowled out for 160, Steve Adams (30) and James Wratten (28) top scoring. In a tight finish Nazeing were bowled out for 157, Matt Gilmore taking 4-36.
A mainly 4th and 5th XI entertained Northants League side Spencers CC who batted first and scored 254-8, Gary Bush taking 3-24. Brad Walker held the reply together with a dogged 57 but Rayleigh finished on 210-8 to lose by 44 runs.
A mainly 6th and 7th XI went to Chalkwell Park to play a strong Westcliff XI in a time game. Westcliff won the toss and elected to bat and scored 236-7, Paul Cox taking 4-60 and Chris Slough 2-32. Rayleigh struggled to score against accurate bowling but Andrew MacDonald (56) held the innings together and Chris Slough batted out the last 20 overs to secure an unlikely draw.
