Ilford Catholic beat Nazeing Common by eight wickets after an excellent bowling display.

Abbas Saleem and Vince Mulholland used the conditions to their advantage and had Nazeing reeling at 18 for four. Mulholland (three for 32) picked up the wickets with Ryan Naylor taking two close quarter catches.

Saleem (one for 14) and Abdul Wahab then bowled very economically to put the home side under pressure, but Nazeing’s Crowley (25) steadied the innings and put together a good stand of 47 with Achillea (38) who begun to strike the ball cleanly. Some fine hitting in the final overs took their score to 144 for nine from 45 overs.

Saleem then came to the crease and immediately made his mark on the innings with excellent timing and stroke play. Saleem and Ed Tooth put on 107 for the first wicket with the former reaching an outstanding 62, featuring seven fours and one six.

With the score on 117 Saleem was dismissed LBW from the bowling of Blair but Tooth (62 not out) struck five fours and two sixes in two overs to secure victory with 14 overs to spare.

Ilford Catholic Seconds beat Farnham Seconds by five wickets to remain unbeaten at the top of the league.

Mukhtiar Singh (one for 21) and Saravana Subramani (three for 22) bowled great lines as Farnham were four wickets down with the score on 44. Fernando stood out with a great spell of three for ten, backed up with an excellent fielding display from the home side as they dismissed Farnham for 85.

Bob Marsh maintained his excellent start to the season, but on 20 he was unlucky to be dismissed playing the ball onto his stumps. Wickets tumbled and it looked like Catholic could be in trouble.

However an unbroken stand of 47 between captain Martin Riches (20 not out) and Subramani (20 not out) saw Catholic home with 12 overs to spare.

The Thirds lost to Wildwood Wanderers by 24 runs.

Kogulan bowled a great spell (three for ten) and this was backed up very well by the rest of the Catholic bowling attack with Gordon Graham (three for 14) taking a fantastic catch from his own bowling, leaving Wildwood 156 all out.

Catholic built a solid foundation with Mohammed Zaman (32) and Sandeep Barot (57) putting together an excellent century partnership. Barot batted particularly well for his half-century however when he was dismissed at 102 for one the Catholics experienced a mid-order collapse letting Wildwood Wanderers back in the game.

The experienced bowling attack with Taylor (four for 14) and Knowles (two for 19) then tore through and meant Catholic were all out for 132.

A brilliant team effort from a youthful Ilford Catholic side saw them defeat Woodford Wells by six wickets in 20/20 match.

Catholic won the toss and put the home side in on a slightly damp pitch at Woodford Wells with Anujan Thiru and Gowtham Rajasegaran picked up two wickets in as many balls.

With Wells struggling at 70 for seven, 13-year-old Rohit Rajasegaran entered the attack and picked up a deserved wicket from his three overs. Wells posted a score of 130 all out from 20 overs.

In reply, Annanth Saleem did his job well scoring a quick 18 and Kumar departed next for an equally swift 24. However it was Sandeep Barot who stole the show with some beautiful clean hitting off all bowlers to smash a rapid 58 not out, his third half century in a week, ably supported by Sarankan Skandamorrthy (16 not out).