Division One

Ilford Catholic eased to a comfortable 114-run victory over Roding Valley on Saturday.

Catholic batted first and found themselves in early trouble as Sulosan Thiru (4) and Vince Mulholland (0) were dismissed in consecutive balls.

Ed Tooth (14) and Abbas Saleem (10) fell soon after but Arul Gopalasamy rescued the innings with an excellent 56, boosting the score to 124.

After Gopalasamy departed leg before wicket, Ryan Naylor and skipper Liam Mulholland began to build a stand for the seventh wicket.

Naylor, batting at number seven, played some fine shots all around the ground, including three big sixes and eight fours to reach an impressive 77.

With support from Mulholland (37), the pair hit the club’s record seventh-wicket partnership of 137 to take Catholic to an excellent total of 261 for six from 45 overs.

In reply, Vince Mulholland (three for 26) and John Rogers (four for 32) took crucial early wickets, one which saw a brilliant catch by Gopalasamy on the mid-wicket boundary.

Roding struggled to keep up with the rate and wickets fell regularly to stunt their progress but a late 53 from Farooq boosted their score to 147.

Wickets from Gopalasamy (two for 25) and Qureshi (one for 42) wrapped up the innings to secure a comprehensive victory.

Division Five

Ilford Catholic Seconds travelled to Takeley and returned with just seven points after a disappointing defeat.

Skipper Martin Riches lost the toss and was asked to bat on a good wicket. Openers Bob Marsh (94 not out) and Nigel Costin (54) scored at three an over for the first nine overs and gradually increased the tempo in an excellent partnership.

Costin was out in the 20th over with the score on 91 for a fine half-century before Sarankan Skandamoorthy (58) then joined Marsh for another great partnership of 133 in 24 overs.

Skandamoorthy was run out in the 44th over to be replaced by debutant Prabhav Bhadani (8 not out), who hit his first ball for four.

Marsh carried his bat for the second time this season and hit 11 fours and one six in an excellent innings, helping Catholic post 232 for two.

After tea Catholic took the field confident they could win the match and Gowtham Rajasegaran (one for 37) and Mukhtiar Singh (nought for 50) kept things tight early.

Change bowlers Mayur Bodakhe and Louis Morgan worked hard but Ravi Ramanuja was the pick of the bowlers, taking two for 38, along with Thaya Sivasuthan (nought for 26).

It wasn’t enough though, as Takeley won the match by six wickets.

Catholic remain top with six games to go and play Matching Green this Saturday.

Friendly

Ilford Catholic Thirds beat Writtle Thirds by seven wickets in a friendly.

Catholic took to the field first on a small ground in Chelmsford and bowled out Writtle for 96 in 37 overs.

All Catholic’s bowlers contributed with the pick of the bunch being Raj Najagaran with figures of four for 15.

Ricki Saha (13) and Sujen Sube (29) opened the batting for the Catholics and played sensibly on a pitch offering indifferent bounce, making 60 runs in just 12 overs.

Saha was eventually caught, but Sanjeev (7 not out) and Mo (17 not out) saw the Catholics home with some big hitting to win the game.