Wanstead & Snaresbrook Cricket Club began their National Cup defence in style, as they breezed past Winchmore Hill with a seven wicket victory on Sunday.

The writing was on the wall for Winchmore when they were bowled out for 76 in 32.3 overs after just two of their batsman reached double figures. Aron Nijjar led the wicket taking honours with three, with Jack Lord, Mohammed Fayyaz Khan and Jonathan Das all notching two apiece.

Wanstead wasted little time in beating that target, with Kishen Velani and Joe Ellis-Grewal’s 37 not out partnership helping to propel the National Cup champions to a seven wicket victory in just over 12 overs.

The win came just a day after Wanstead were held by Chelmsford in their first Essex League match of the season. Scores of 31 from Arfan Akram and 46 from Nijjar helped Wanstead reach a score of 173-9, but their opponents racked up 151 in reply inside 40.2 overs to pick up a hard fought draw.

Meanwhile, a century from Alexander Maskell proved to be pivotal for Chingford, who beat Hadleigh & Thundersley by 41 runs away from home.

Having elected to bat first, Maskell was third up and notched 118 from 99 balls to help Chingford reach a score of 197 all out after 48.2 overs. That century proved to be pivotal, with Chingford’s second highest scorer, Hassan Malik, racking up just 15.

But they were given hope when Hadleigh’s Paul Tibbenham was bowled out with the first ball by Matthew Quinn, who would enjoy a successful day on the field, taking four wickets for 38 runs.

After Adam Dobson was then bowled out for 28, the rest of Hadleigh’s batters were dismissed with relative ease, with Liam Lannen taking 3-24 as the home side notched a score of 156 all out to hand Chingford an opening day victory.

Meanwhile, rain affected play for Ilford, who were forced to settle for a draw with Billericay after the players were taken off the pitch after 25.5 overs in the second innings.

The first innings were shortened to 44 overs due to the weather, but it certainly didn’t affect Ilford’s batters, with Akash Raji making up for Harsh Kumar’s early dismissal by hitting 108 not out. Syed Ashar Ahmed Zaidi added a further 70 as Ilford posted a score of 221-3 before declaring.

But after Billericay had notched 99-2 after 25.5 overs, the players were forced to leave the pitch due to heavy rain, meaning the spoils were shared.

Walthamstow were to enjoy better fortunes, though, as they secured a six wicket victory over Basildon & Pitsea largely thanks to the performances of Asif Bala and Rory Knox.

Bala took 3-19 while Knox claimed a superb 3-9, as Walthamstow bowled Basildon out for 115 despite captain Liam Rouse’s half century.

That put Walthamstow in the driving seat and batting second, they made easy work of their 115 target, notching 116 runs in just 26.2 overs. Having played a significant role in dismissing Basildon, it was Bala and Knox who were influential once again, notching 70 between them to lead Walthamstow to victory.

However, it was an opening weekend to forget for Epping, as they were thrashed by Westcliff on Sea by eight wickets away from home.

Batting first, the pressure was on Epping to post a difficult target and they got off to the worst possible start when both Gufran Ashraf and Rakesh Bagga were both bowled out for just six runs.

Ahsan Akbar came to the rescue, though, as he notched 66, while notable contributions from Raza Saleem (20) and Umesh Gadhvi (19) helped Epping reach a score of 147-9 after 32.4 overs.

But their opponents were to beat Epping’s target with relative ease as Matt Renvoize, Peter Barnes and Jonathan Pratt all scored over 30 to help Westcliff reach 148 after just 24 overs, handing them the victory.

Poor weather was to affect Woodford Green as they were held by Benfleet in Division 3.

It was Benfleet who batted first and they set a target of 148-9 in a reduced first innings of 36 overs thanks to notable contributions from John Bull (49), Stephen Reeve (37) and Samuel Coelho (26).

Woodford Green were up against it when the second innings were reduced to 33 overs, but opener Hamaad Sayyed got the visitors off to a good start when he notched 26. Having then lost three wickets in quick succession, David Roberts came to the fore, as he scored a half century while Jawwad Hussain posted 23 not out to help Woodford Green reach 134-4 inside 30 overs, meaning the match was drawn.

The rain proved to be a common theme in this weekend’s results, with Woodford Wells, South Woodford, Buckhurst Hill, Fives and Heronians and West Essex’s games all being abandoned due to the weather.