Ilford Catholics lost to Theydon Bois in Herts & Essex Division One by five runs.

Theydon batted first and Catholic got off to a great start with Ravi Ramanuja dismissing opener Will Stoner caught behind for nought. Shane Pienaar got the Theydon innings underway with some attacking strokes until he was caught at cover off Naylor from Ramanuja.

At the other end Vince Mulholland kept the runs down and Catholic were going well. Theydon skipper Rob Bullivant arrived at the crease and they built their innings around him as the score passed 100.

Wickets continued to fall with Naylor (one for 32) and Qureshi (three for 38) bowling good spells.

Abbas Saleem (three for 28) then took two wickets in two balls including skipper Bullivant who departed for a faultless 82. Catholic were in an excellent position with Theydon at 154 for nine however some late hitting from the tail boosted the score to a competitive 187 from 45 overs.

In reply, Naylor and Ed Tooth got off to a good start putting on 41 for the first wicket until Tooth was caught by Bullivant from the bowling of Stoner.

Abbas Saleem was then trapped LBW first ball and Stoner and Bullivant contained the batsmen well. Naylor and Suleman Saleem soon fell after and Catholic were struggling despite some good hitting from Aditya Panoli (19).

Stoner picked up more wickets leaving Catholic in trouble at 97 for seven with 13 overs remaining. However a brilliant stand of 80 between brothers Vince Mulholland (57) and Liam Mulholland (35 not out) clawed Catholic back in the game and with three overs left 33 runs were needed.

Vince Mulholland reached an excellent half-century taking the Theydon bowlers for several boundaries and with some good running Catholic needed 21 from two overs.

Catholic were dealt a blow when Vince was bowled by Bullivant and Van Rensburg was tasked with bowling the last over with ten needed.

Van Rensburg then cleaned bowled Qureshi first ball and kept the boundaries out.  With eight needed from two balls, Catholic fell just short of the target in a closely fought finish at 182 for nine.

The Seconds remain top of Division Six despite losing to North Weald by six wickets.

Catholic batted first and got off to a bad start with opener Bob Marsh gloving one behind for one from the bowling of Barton. Annanth Kumar started to find the boundary well and added useful runs with Sandeep Barot but fell for 18 caught and bowled off Barton. 

Barot and captain Martin Riches put on some more runs but Riches departed for 19 off the bowling of Ginn. Sandeep Aithal then contributed an excellent 25 to boost Catholics' final score to 163 with Sandeep Barot top scoring with 35.

North Weald’s Robson bowled well going for just 12 in his ten overs and was well supported by Ginn (two for 29).

In reply, Anujan Thiru and Mukhtiar Singh started well with Thiru picking up the wicket of Mir for just two but North Weald began to chase down the target with Curren and Barton batting well.

When Curren departed for 31, and Ginn for nought, both bowled Vasi Tharmalingham (two for 26), Catholic were back in the game but an excellent 45 not out from Tredget secured the win for North Weald.

Ilford Catholic Thirds lost to Rainham by three runs in their friendly.
Rainham batted first and Reynolds immediately made an impact striking the ball well for a deserved 52, well supported by Moon (35).

Catholic bowlers worked hard with Josh Dharmanandan (two for 15) bowling particularly well and Gordon Graham picking up two wickets from his six overs.

In reply, Dave Revell continued his fine run of form striking the ball well from the start. Catholic lost a couple of early wickets which brought Mohammed Zaman to the crease and he soon got the scoreboard moving hitting several boundaries. 

Catholic were well set to reach the target but when Revell fell for 29 the scoring slowed.  Zaman (52) went on to make a fine half-century. With just eight runs needed victory was in sight for Catholic but despite some powerful blows they couldn’t get over the line.