Ilford Catholics defeat Epping Foresters

John Rogers returned to first-team action and bowled a great spell (two for 19) from his ten overs, and in tandem with Mulholland kept Epping tied down with only 30 runs scored from the first 20 overs. 

Mulholland returned figures of two for 11, with Foresters losing Wilks and Halls in the process, including some great catches from Ryan Naylor and Abdul Wahab.

Nomi Qureshi (two for 32) and Wahab (three for 27) continued the accurate bowling and soon picked up wickets and with Sulosan Thiru producing a great performance behind the stumps, Foresters were all out for 97.

In reply, Thiru and Ed Tooth got off to a good start against a lively Foresters attack who were getting decent bounce and movement with the new ball.  The partnership of 25 was broken when Tooth was caught in the gully from Quant for 18. 

Abbas Saleem fell early for nought but Ryan Naylor (13) added some useful runs to boost the score. Catholic then lost a series of wickets with Suleman Saleem and Panoli falling in quick succession leaving Catholic reeling at 55 for six. 

However Wahab (24 not out) and Mulholland (13 not out) came to the crease and steadied the innings, before Wahab hit a series of boundaries to finish the game and secure the win.

The Seconds thrashed Little Bardfield by ten wickets in Division Six.
A blistering 64 not out from Annanth Kumar took them to victory. Bardfield batted first and Anujan Thiru picked up two quick wickets including opener Marris, caught behind in the fifth over, to reduce the home side to 30 for two. 

Thiru continued his excellent season finishing with figures of two for 20 and was replaced by leg spinner Ravi Ramanuja and medium pacer Saravana Subramani, who then ran through the batting order with Ramanuja picking up four wickets for 23 and Subramani three for 13. Their combined effort was too much for the Bardfield batting line up who were eventually skittled for 93.

The Catholic openers Annanth Kumar and Bob Marsh knocked off the runs in style in just 16 overs, with Kumar in fine form smashing 64 including two sixes and ten fours while Marsh played the perfect foil hitting 17 not out. 
Catholics Thirds beat Mathews by six wickets in their friendly.

Mathews batted first in the overcast conditions and opening bowlers Oliver Graham and Raj Mahinthan restricted the batsmen.

Change bowlers Fred Fernando and Wesli Benjamin kept the pressure on, with Fernando removing the off stump of the number three batter with a beautiful away swinger.

Mathews then pushed on and the run rate began to approach four an over, however some great catches from Steve Rumbold and Rakin Hossain kept Catholics in the game.

The Dharmanandan brothers, Joshua and Benjamin, bowled with accuracy and intent, as did youngsters Hossain and Louis Morgan and the Catholics worked their way through the Mathews middle order. The tenth wicket fell in the 40th over and Mathews finished on 174.

Openers Mohammed Zaman and Wesli Benjamin played straight and put away the bad balls for four. By the time Benjamin departed on 49 a solid foundation had been built.

Raj Mahinthan showed steely resolve before departing on 36 to a fine catch at point. Zaman finished on a match winning 66 not out.

Ilford Catholic's Under-17 youth team lost by 45 runs to Newham.
Newham batted first and got off to a good start with Ayyaz hitting the ball well.

Rakin Hossain (two for 27), Sarankan Skandamoorthy (one for 15) and Jack Rumbold (two for 15) picked up wickets but a late flurry of runs took Newham to 138 for nine from 20 overs.

Catholic lost early wickets with skipper Oliver Graham bowled by a quicker delivery for five. Louis Morgan and Sulosan Thiru built a 52-run partnership but a late cameo from Jack Rumbold was the highlight of the innings as he hit 27 in quick time.

Catholic were over 40 runs short in the end but it was a fine all round performance in their first match together.