Despite facing poor player unavailability, the 1st XI managed to secure their second consecutive win with a comfortable 7-wicket victory over Ilford Catholic. You can catch some brief highlights of the match below.

Regrettably, the remaining Saturday teams faced defeats in their league matches, looking to bounce back with stronger performances in the coming week. On a brighter note, the Sunday XI kicked off their season with a victory against Newham CC.

Alan Brown has been busy putting his new camera to use in the last week and captured a variety of photos from around the grounds including the 4th XI at Navestock, Ladies vs. Hutton and U15s vs. OS&S.

Click the images to view and download the full size versions.

The U15s welcomed Old Southendians & Southchurch to Rawreth lane on Monday, playing their first game of the season due to the poor weather in recent weeks. Josh Francis captained the side, losing the toss and was asked to bat first on a sticky looking wicket.

Rayleigh got off to a poor start losing the skipper in the first over, followed by subsequent wickets at regular intervals. Lewis Mills (37*) was the standout, playing some great shots all around the ground – helping to anchor the innings – supported by Oliver Guinn lower down the order with a well made 18. Rayleigh finished on 81/10 from 17.5 overs.

OS&S started strongly, but the opening partnership was eventually broken with the opposition on 20, thanks to a run out from Benny Mahoney. Ryan Hart (3-0-19-1) and Oli Church (2-0-3-1) were the pick of the bowlers and picked up a wicket each and another run out came compliments of Freddie Ashworth. The Phantoms eventually chased down the total set by Rayleigh in 15.4 overs thanks to some good batting.

Watch highlights of the fixture below:

Aggressive Abley and Fiery Frost Lead the Way in Comfortable Win

The Rayleigh 1st team welcomed Ilford Catholic to Rawreth Lane for their fourth fixture in this damp start to the season. After several inspections of the wicket, the skipper was uncertain about what to do if he won the toss. Seeking advice from his senior players, they all agreed that bowling first would be a good idea, given the overhead conditions that favoured swing and the hard deck that would benefit the pace of the home team’s bowlers.

The skipper won the toss and elected to bowl. Frost took the new ball but struggled with exaggerated swing and was wayward. Abley, focusing less on swing and more on accuracy, took the first wicket in his second over. Frost was replaced after just two overs, and S. Verrinder reaped the rewards, catching the batsman cold with a slow outswinger that found the leading edge to mid-on. This brought Koul (40) to the crease, who decided that the best defense was a good offense and took a liking to Sammy’s bowling.

Koul struggled against Abley’s aggressive accuracy but managed to get off strike and stay at the other end. Abley claimed the third wicket with a rising delivery that caught Zaman (13) to break the budding partnership. After an expensive over, Frost replaced Verrinder, and with an older ball and less dramatic movement, he found his groove. Frost bowled Koul and another batsman in the same over for a double-wicket maiden, leaving Ilford at 72-5 after 17 overs. After being in a similar position last week, it was crucial for Rayleigh to maintain pressure. Frost kept his focus on the stumps, claiming another wicket. Patel joined the attack after Abley finished his superb spell of 9-2-20-2. Patel initially struggled with his lengths, but Ilford had gone into damage limitation mode, trying to see out as many overs as possible. With some good fielding, the boundaries dried up.

Frost, needing a rest, led to a double change. Ox came on and found a wicket straight away. He then got his second in the next over, putting Ilford at 86-8 and a total under 100 seemed possible. However, Ilford’s tail had other ideas. Debutant Daji (15) struck nicely to push the score over 100. Ox got a third wicket, leaving Ilford at 119 all out when Frost was reintroduced to finish the innings. Frost ended with figures of 4-18, and Ox with 3-20.

Even with the modest total, Rayleigh knew this would be a tough chase, as conditions still favored good swing bowling and the wicket and outfield were very slow. Ilford’s openers started off well, with Littler and Keene being watchful to get a feel for the wicket. In the 4th over, a rare scoring chance presented itself, but the shot was hit low and hard to a slightly deep mid-on fielder, who managed to take the sting out of it with his first four attempts and clung on with the fifth. Lynch, playing his first league game of the season, joined Keene, and together they built a solid platform. They played with great maturity, picking off the bad balls when they came and rotating the strike when they could. Slowly creeping up to the total, the Rayleigh batsmen knew that little risk was needed with so many overs to get the required runs. Lynch reached his fifty with a lovely sweep in the 28th over.

Richard “Jinx” Abley then proclaimed it was time to take a shower as he believed “these lads will see it through.” Two balls later, Lynch nicked off to the keeper, making it 87-2. Ox entered the fray and put paid to any chance of a collapse with some nice strokes, moving the score along. Keene, sensing an opportunity for a maiden fifty in the 1s and perhaps worried that Ox might use up the available runs, went on the attack.

Unfortunately, with only one run needed to win but two needed for his fifty, Keene fell short. He tried to clip the ball over midwicket but, perhaps surprised that the field was still set back to save boundaries, he chipped it to deep midwicket where a good catch was taken. Harmy struck the winning run to seal Rayleigh’s first home victory of the season. Lynch (51) and Keene (48) were superb in the chase, commanding the crease and not giving Ilford a sniff of an unlikely win.

It was a very dominant display from Rayleigh. From the outset, they looked focused in the field, and the bowlers really set up the win this week. They move up into 2nd in the league, but once again, it is looking very competitive with 2nd to 4th separated by just one point. Next week, Rayleigh travel to South Loughton, who are currently in 4th.

Written by Rob Littler

“May wicket madness”

Rayleigh made the long journey to the interestingly named “AGHAB Bowl” to play the middle-of-the-table Ardleigh Green & Havering-Atte-Bower 1st team.

The 2nd team, reduced to 10 men before the start of play, lost the toss and were asked to bat first. Rayleigh lost both openers quickly, and only Bala Rajagopal (33) showed any resistance against the Ardleigh bowlers on a tricky surface. Managing to bat out 30 overs, the 2nd XI were bowled out for a meager 84 runs.

With the pitch doing a lot, it wouldn’t be easy for the Ardleigh batters. The skipper mixed the bowling up, opting for quick changes early on to promote a wicket. Zach Skillet (6-1-23-1) and Ben Hoskins (3-1-8-1) started well, followed by an exquisite spell of bowling from Nick Green (9-5-8-1), who conceded less than one run per over.

Only two Ardleigh batters reached double figures, but Doyle (32) and Calcott (19) did enough to help the opposition reach the target in 29 overs.

“We’ll have a bowl, please”

Rayleigh 3rd XI hosted Great Baddow 2nd XI at the old ground. Brad Walker, standing in as captain for Neil, won the toss and opted to field first.

Great Baddow made a solid start, forming a 57-run partnership for the first wicket followed by another 51 runs for the second wicket. Despite efforts from Rayleigh’s bowlers, particularly Dave Archer who claimed the wicket of Hanley for 74, breaking a crucial partnership, Great Baddow’s strong batting lineup proved challenging on a sluggish pitch.

Benny Mahoney provided a breakthrough by dismissing Woolf for 62, but Rayleigh struggled to make further inroads. John Wright bowled with excellent economy, conceding only 27 runs from his 9 overs without taking a wicket. Kalpesh Patel managed to take the final wicket of the innings, leaving Rayleigh with a daunting target of 248 runs to chase.

Rayleigh’s innings began on unsteady ground as they faced exceptional bowling from the opposition. Both Gosling and Balkwill fell rapidly, leaving the team struggling at 14-2. Joshua Francis and James Isherwood steadied the ship, contributing 37 runs for the third wicket partnership. However, the former departed for 20 runs, halting their progress. Kalpesh Patel’s dismissal followed shortly after Francis’, but Isherwood remained a beacon of stability, guiding Rayleigh to 129-5 before being unfortunately run out on a valiant 50 runs from 79 balls, including 7 boundaries.

Unfortunately, Rayleigh’s batting lineup faced a collapse after the departure of Isherwood. Brad Walker led the lower order with an unbeaten 29*, but lacked support from his teammates as wickets continued to tumble. Rayleigh found themselves 111 runs short, ultimately finishing on 136 all out from 35 overs.

“Oh so village green!”

In an unusual twist of fate, Captain Geoff Morgan found himself on the right side of luck as he won the toss and opted to field first on a challenging wicket (pictured below – can you tell where it is yet?). Taking charge of the opening overs, Morgan swiftly clinched two early wickets, setting a promising tone for Rayleigh.

However, the day’s fortunes took a downturn when vice-captain Peppiatt, stationed at mid-off, was provided with an easy catching opportunity that slipped through his grasp. This missed chance marked the beginning of a series of unfortunate events, with a total of six catches eluding Rayleigh’s fielders throughout the innings, dimming their hopes of containing the Navestock batters.

Nevertheless, Rayleigh persisted, and Andy James managed to remove the opposition skipper with the scoreboard reading 44-3. Despite some commendable bowling from Umer Khan and Ryan Hart, a resilient partnership of 60 runs took the game away from Rayleigh. The breakthrough eventually arrived courtesy of young Umer (8-0-39-1), who bowled Archer (52). Another wicket followed, thanks to Ryan (5-1-15-1), who bowled Karrer (23) through the gate. Despite several opportunities, only one chance was successfully taken due to miscommunication between the batters, resulting in a run-out by Alan Brown. Navestock concluded their innings on 209-6, setting a challenging target on the demanding wicket.

Facing a depleted team due to availability issues, the 4th XI knew they needed a solid start. Bailey and Scogings opened the batting, both appearing settled at the crease. Unfortunately, Andy (11) fell victim to a late in-swinger, while Mark (10) succumbed to a delivery that kept low, shattering his leg stump.

Peppiatt, fresh off a commendable knock last week, was once again dismissed by a ball that moved off the surface and kept low. This left Colin Mayor and Ryan Hart to attempt to build a partnership with the scoreline at 37-3. Although Colin fought valiantly, he was again dismissed by a ball that found its way through the defence, contributing 22 runs to the total. Ryan Hart (20) also made a commendable effort, but his stumps were eventually disturbed. Geoff Morgan (17) and Umer Khan (11) managed to contribute some runs, but Rayleigh ultimately faltered, succumbing to a mere 122 all out.

“Is this what losing feels like?”

The 5th XI have been in prolific form this year, winning all league fixtures up to this weekend. Marc lost the toss and was asked to bat first on an infamous Chignal wicket – known to do a bit early in the season.

The top order struggled to settle, with Terry Martin departing for a duck, followed by Kuldeep Paik and David Turner quickly thereafter. Despite some brief resistance from James Offer and Philip Hammond, who managed to add a few runs to the total, the Rayleigh innings continued to falter.

Sam Harman proved to be the tormentor-in-chief, claiming five wickets with his accurate bowling, while Rhys Williams and Frank Ladlow chipped in with crucial breakthroughs.

Jack Himpfen-Jones and Elliot Davies showed some defiance with the bat, but their contributions were not enough to stem the flow of wickets. The Rayleigh innings came to a close at 68 all out in 23.1 overs, leaving the team facing an uphill battle to defend their total.

In response to Rayleigh’s modest total, the opposition started steadily, with Andy Hill and Rhys Williams laying a solid foundation. However, the introduction of Andy Long into the attack proved fruitful for Rayleigh as he claimed the wicket of Hill early on. James Offer struck next, dismissing Williams to further dent the opposition’s progress. Despite these setbacks, Sam Harman held firm at the crease, anchoring the innings with a composed knock.

Rayleigh’s bowlers toiled hard, with Long continuing to pose a threat. Ultimately, Great Waltham chased down the total with Harman remaining unbeaten, steering his team to victory.

“Home in time for lunch”

In the absence of regular skipper Simon Lennox, Duncan Bond took the reins as Rayleigh faced Springfield at the 3rd ground. Unfortunately, luck wasn’t on Rayleigh’s side as Bondy lost the toss, and the home team were put into bat first.

Rayleigh’s innings got off to a challenging start, with their batting lineup struggling against Springfield’s disciplined bowling attack. Despite efforts from Ray Hart and Joe Peppiatt, who managed to reach double figures, Rayleigh were bowled out for a meager 53 runs.

In reply, Springfield chased down the target comfortably, with Paul Cox being the lone Rayleigh bowler to make a breakthrough. The visitors secured victory in under 20 overs, leaving Rayleigh with much to ponder.

Rayleigh hosted Hutton in a return to league action. The opposition won the toss and batted first, posting 138-2 from their 20 overs. Rebecca Walker (4-1-15-1) and Sophie Lennox (4-0-20-1) were the pick of the bowlers.

In reply, Rayleigh slumped to 66 all out. Lou Harmsworth (21) top scored, supported by Chloe Woolaway (10).