The 1st XI, the reigning champions, opened their title defense away at Brentwood but sadly fell to a 25-run defeat. After winning the toss, and asking the home side to bat, Brentwood posted 252/5 off their 50 overs. Skipper West top scored with 97, whilst ex-Essex staffer Buttleman weighed in with 77. Dectective Gav was the pick of our bowlers with 3-45, including the two aforementioned batters as well as Brentwood’s big money signing, Aussie Jordan Silk. In reply, 6 of out top 7 all got starts but no-one was able to kick on and bring us home. Billy top scored with 47, with 3 others getting into the 30s but Hebron’s 4 wickets helped the home side to the 25 points. It was a disappointing start for the 1s but there were plenty of positives to build on next week.

The 2s enjoyed a better start to their league campaign with an impressive 14-run win over Chelmsford. Having won promotion back to the Premier League, the 2s successfully defended 178 to start the season off in the best way possible. Frankie lost the toss and was asked to bat and he (36), Lord Luke (27) and Yas (30) all got starts. However, we continued to lose regular wickets but Ted Coney’s 40 saw us to 178 all out. We knew we had to be at our best with the ball and the bowlers delivered as we bowled the visitors out for 164. Skipper Frankie led the way with 2-10 and he was ably supported by Kenny Coney (2-16), Yas (2-27) and debutant Tufail (2-39) as we bagged the 20 points.

The 3rd Xi played in the most thrilling game of the day as they tied with Frenford in a game that saw over 550 runs. The home side elected to bat after winning the toss and wracked up 278/7 off their 45 overs. Daffy and Egg Warren both took 2 wickets as the home side posted a big total. In reply, skipper Nuts led the chase with a sublime 105. The returning Abul chipped in with 33, whilst fellow come-backer, Burdy scored 26 as we got close to a brilliant win. We needed 20 off the last 2 overs with 2 wickets in hand. The equation then went down to 10 off the last but we were only able to get 9 and the game ended in a tie.

The 4th XI started their season with the most disappointing result of the day after going down by 70 runs to Chelmsford. After putting the visitors in on a pudding-like pitch, they posted 172/6 off their 40 overs. Clarkey was the pick of the bowlers with 3-21 whilst Stanley Murray took his 1st league wicket on his senior league debut. In reply, only Omari (24) and skipper Tommy Fletcher (16*) reached double figures as we were guilty of playing some poor shots and we were rolled over for 102.

The 5th XI took the full 20 points without even needing to take to the field as Harold Wood were unable to raise a side.