Weekly Round Up: Noble Century, Youth Triumph & Pork Pies

It was a busy week across the club with plenty of drama, high scores and standout wins.

In league cricket, the 2nd XI led the charge with a well-earned 4-wicket victory chasing down 180, while the 1st XI came up just short in a high-scoring clash at Great Totham. The 3rd XI posted a huge 309-3 in a dominant 51-run win, and the 5th and 6th XIs both delivered convincing victories.

The Veteran’s team took to the field for the first time this season, playing out a high-scoring draw in a timed match, while the Ladies (merged with Maldon for this season only) recorded their first win of the season agaisnt Galleywood.

Finally, our recently formed U14 Kestrels took flight in the Sir Alistair Cook T20 G4 League, winning a nail-biting contest against Hadleigh & Thundersley. Watch highlights of the encounter below:

The competition is heating up! Andy James storms into top spot with Jamesy’s Jaffas leading the way, closely followed by Andy Long’s Ding dong line n length long. With just 335 points separating the top three, it’s all to play for as we head into the next round of fixtures.

Rayleigh 1st XI put up a brave fight but ultimately came up just short in a high-scoring encounter away at Great Totham.

After losing the toss, Rayleigh faced a daunting target as Great Totham piled on 302 runs in 44 overs. The home side’s innings was powered by Liam Jones, whose explosive 92 off 69 balls featured 7 fours and 7 sixes, while Joseph Davis added a steady 56. A late flourish from Neil Quilter, hitting 27 off 16 balls, pushed the total to a challenging, but attainable, total.

Rayleigh’s bowlers worked hard to contain the onslaught. Ian Turnbull led the attack with 3 for 48, supported by Greg Hood’s 2 for 64. Richard Abley, Mihir Patel, and Samuel Verrinder chipped in with key wickets, and two sharp run-outs helped keep Great Totham in check.

Chasing 303, Rayleigh got off to a bright start but soon lost crucial wickets, slipping to 110 for 4. Steven Lynch anchored the innings with a calm 54 off 62 balls, but it was Samuel Verrinder who truly lit up the chase. His blistering 87 from just 49 deliveries, including 6 fours and 7 sixes, injected life back into the innings and kept Rayleigh in the hunt.

Despite Verrinder’s heroics, wickets fell steadily at the other end, and Rayleigh’s innings closed on 266 in the 37th over. Jim Gregory was the standout bowler for Great Totham with 4 for 37, backed by Joseph Davis’s 3 for 52.

While the defeat was disappointing, Rayleigh earned 10 valuable points (5 batting, 5 bowling) from a competitive match, showing resilience and fight that will stand them in good stead moving forward.

On another sunny day, the 3s made the short journey to Ingatestone. Rayleigh won the toss and elected to bat first on a rather flat looking wicket, setting the tone early despite losing an initial wicket.

Neil Noble anchored the innings superbly, batting nearly the entire innings to score an unbeaten 147. He was well supported by James Isherwood, who contributed a solid 85, while late hitting from Henry Murrell (25 not out) helped push Rayleigh to a commanding total of 309 for 3.

Rayleigh started well, with the opening bowlers grabbing a wicket apiece, but the pitch continued to favour the batsmen. The home side’s middle order began a fightback, only to be denied by some exceptional fielding from Ollie Barker. His quick stop at short cover and accurate throw to the bowler’s end resulted in the run out of Ingatestone’s star batsman—a crucial turning point.

Taking advantage of the momentum, Richard Barker then bowled the next two batsmen in the same over, finishing with 4 wickets. He was well backed up by Benny, Ryan, and Henry, who shared the rest of the wickets as Ingatestone’s innings closed at 252 for 9.

A strong all-round team performance from Rayleigh, highlighted by Noble’s marathon innings and some game-changing fielding, earned a well-deserved victory.

Rayleigh 5th XI delivered a commanding performance on Saturday, securing a 146-run victory over Great Waltham 3rd XI to continue their strong run of form.

Batting first, Rayleigh made a sluggish and slow start, reaching just 60 after 20 overs and 90-2 at the 30-over mark. With the innings lacking momentum, the game was in need of a spark—and it came in emphatic style through James Offer.

Walking to the crease with intent, Offer immediately changed the tone of the match by launching his first delivery for six. From there, he unleashed an assault on the Great Waltham bowlers, smashing a rapid-fire 68 off just 26 balls, including 7 sixes and 2 fours. His fearless hitting completely turned the innings on its head.

Offer was superbly supported by Ben James, who anchored the innings with great composure to notch his first half-century. He eventually fell for a well-constructed 61, playing a crucial role in setting up the late onslaught.

With three overs remaining, skipper Smith joined the fray, getting off the mark with a boundary. In the final over Offer powered 20 runs to close the innings in spectacular fashion.

Rayleigh finished on an imposing 235-3, having scored 145 runs in the final 10 overs.

In response, Great Waltham struggled to get going against a disciplined and determined Rayleigh bowling unit. Early breakthroughs set the tone, and the pressure never relented. Tom Barker led the attack brilliantly, returning figures of 5 overs, 1 maiden, 3 wickets for 13 runs. Sangeet was again effective, bowling 8 overs, including 4 maidens, for just 10 runs and 1 wicket – an economy of just 1.25.

All bowlers chipped in with wickets, wrapping up the Great Waltham innings for just 89 and securing a dominant win.

After winning the toss on a sunny day and dry pitch, Rayleigh were asked to bat first, indicating that Baddow were a bit useful with ball in hand. With a recently accrued combined age of 120 (about 10 times better than their batting averages!), Duncan Bond and Mark Bailey opened the innings for the hosts.

The studiously slow accuracy of Colin Pannell, meant that concentration was key early on, so as not to lose any quick wickets. That was achieved with a partnership of 41, before Bond fell to a sharp catch at backward point to young Charlie Pike for 19.

Steve Rothon joined Bailey at the crease and they added a further 47 runs before Bailey (40, runs, not age) was the second wicket to fall with the score on 88. Chris Poole then joined Rothon in a 108 run partnership to steer Rayleigh to a useful total of 196 for 2 from their 40 overs. Rothon finished on 41 not out and Poole on 72 not out.

Luke Gould struck early for Rayleigh after tea, with the wicket of the dangerous Andrew Whithams for just 2 runs. He was well supported in the opening 10 overs by young Joseph Collins who returned very good figures of 5-2-6-0 on his 6th team debut.

Kat Mayfield was introduced to the attack with her leg spin, ably supported by Shri Balamurugan. Shri claimed 2 wickets before the Bailey/Bond combo worked again with a sharp stumping to remove Murray-Brown for a duck and reduce Great Baddow to 67 for 4.

The Rayleigh squeeze was beginning and when Chris Poole took a fine catch to dismiss Michael Austin for 82, the home side were scenting a very impressive victory. A wicket a-piece for Arvin Ghataura and debutant Miller Poole helped to keep chipping away at the Baddow batsmen and Luke Gould returned to the attack for the final overs and claimed a second wicket to finish with figures of 7-1-17-2, to record a well deserved win by 44 runs.

Credit to all the young players for concentrating thoroughly for 40 overs in the field and attacking the ball, when needed. It really was a superb all round team performance.

After the stand-in skipper lost the toss and being asked to field in the sunshine, a late change to the eleven saw Sam Verrinder come in for Smithy, who apparently pulled his back carrying Pork Pies from his car. It was also agreed that the game would be a timed match, leaving the most important question of the day “what time is Smithy’s tea” going unanswered !!

A solid start from the opening bowlers produced two wickets for Andy James and a brilliant run-out from Sam ‘smithy’ Verrinder had Old Vics 35-3 after 10 overs.

However some friendly bowling and some nice batting produced a 150 run partnership and some late hitting, brought a declaration 231-6 after 41 overs.

After a slightly longer tea than normal. Rayleigh started a very difficult chase. A solid start from Terry Martin (35) and Mike Mayfield (30) had the bowlers on the back foot. Sam ‘smithy’ Verrinder continued on the attack with a quick fire 60. However, still requiring 50 from the last 7 overs, enter Alan Brown and Duncan Bond.
With a surprising amount of two‘s and one outstanding three kept the two ‘boys’ up with the run rate.

But with 12 still required from the last over, a draw looked the only result. Nevertheless, with even more two’s and an umpire losing count, the game finished in a tie! Two heroes at the end AB (24*) and Duncan (28*).

Special thank you to Smithy for an excellent tea, you never disappoint. To Tom Peppiatt and Sam Mayfield for running the bar and helping with teas.

Thank you to everyone for a very enjoyable start to the Vets Season.