F&HCC End of Season Match Report
‘Clean Sweep of Wins as Fives Sides Complete Fantastic Finale’
Avid readers of the match reports would have been only too aware that every Fives adult side had everything to play for as the season concluded on Saturday. For the Seconds it was aiming for promotion whilst the Third and Fourth XI’s had relegations to avoid. The First XI it was pride against a Chelmsford side seeking to win the Premier League title. It’s unbelievably heartening to report a stunning clean sweep across all the teams.
A fitting place of honour and primacy must go to Rohan and his Second XI charges. They travelled to Standford Le Hope knowing a win would achieve promotion and an immediate bounce back to 2nd XI Division One after last years demotion. Raising the stakes was the fact that the home side needed to win to have any chance of avoiding relegation. Would the pressure of the situation cause the redoubtable Fives squad to wilt?
In short, the answer was an emphatic no. Rohan won the toss and inserted Hope who got off to a flying start courtesy of former First XI all rounder De Jong who raced to 19 before being ensnared by James McKay. Hope were resisting Fives efforts and building a base at 52-1 when Irfan bowled Gray and from that moment we assumed control of the fixture and the promotion destiny. Wickets tumbled at regular intervals as the bowling unit combined to ensure there would be no partnerships of major significance. The 9th wicket partnership added 30 but Mo Adams struck and moments later Terry Ballard nicked off Page to keeper Dubai Doody and brought the inning to a close at 165 all out with 5 overs gone a begging.
All seven bowlers took at least one wicket in a team effort with McKay (2-26), Adams (2-37) and Sungeen (2-23) leading the way.
Any batting nerves after the early loss of the skipper for 9 were firmly put to bed by the belligerent broad bat of Terry Ballard. The club run machine smashed 87 from 58 balls supported expertly by Pete ‘Oasis’ Kilpatrick who added 45 as Fives dashed to promotion in just 21.5 overs with a winning margin of 9 wickets. Both promotion rivals also won but Fives were up and will fight again in 2026 back in Division One. Huge congratulations to Rohan and everyone who has represented the side over the season. To hold off Colchester for that all important second place was a highly creditable performance.
Our most vulnerable side going into the last game were the Third XI. Last weeks vital win had given them a much-needed lift and they knew victory over Chelmsford would secure their place in the same division for 2026. This was to be a far tighter game than the 2’s but Fives ended triumphant.
Batting first Chelmsford performed well and retained wickets but the Fives bowling never allowed the scoring to get totally away from them and consequently they were well in the game after the visitors posted 227-5. A good team effort with the ball was led by Himanshu Dadra (3-44) and Sarabjit Singh (1-33) but the analysis that really caught the eye was Syed Ayain’s 5 over spell going for just 9 runs at less than 2 an over.
A potentially testing target looked that little more distant after Kashif Rauf was run out for a duck. However, the second wicket partnership between Himanshu Dadra (92) and Anand Khandelwal (40) broke the back of the chase. When they were dismissed Aamir Ali added 24 and despite a late cluster of wickets Fives were home and dry within 32 overs.
The Third XI have performed admirably to recover late season and salvage what was beginning to look in early August like an inevitable relegation. One must single out Himanshu Dadra who has been a significant influence in many of the late season games producing winning performances with bat and ball. Aamir Ali topped both the run scoring and wicket taking charts so an incrfedible season for Aamir. Excellent effort from all the Third XI.
The Fourth XI travelled to already promoted Newham needing 6 points for guaranteed safety. No point Flandering around for bonus points (hopefully you get the appalling ground related joke!) when you can give a promoted side a good hammering.
Again, Fives won the toss and had a bowl. Alarm bells would have been deafening as Newham reached 174-1 with opener Asad Javed on his way to a century. The fact that our side comprising of some rather mature gentlemen and young Colts fought their way back to bowl Newham out for 217 wins my performance of the day. Nine wickets fell for just 43 runs in a stunning effort. Destroyers in chief were Nikhil Patel (5-44) and Ben Britton (4-40) but credit also to Allum, Gul and Evan Britton all of whom produced economical spells.
Fives innings made a great start and inroads into the total before M Rashid Hussain fell for 43 (87-1 at that stage). Despite losing partners at regular intervals, Gary Edwards remained resolute and reached a magnificent undefeated century just prior to winning the match. His sixth wicket pairing with young Evan Britton had added 61 at a crucial stage and was enough to secure a 5 wicket win and in the final analysis – a mid-table finish. Credit all again in this side. Some very experienced and talented players in the autumn of their careers sharing their knowledge and experience with young promising players. Exactly what Fourth XI ricket should be about. Bravo to all. Special mention in despatches for Gary and Ben along with Mo Rashid and Zahid Gul. All four contributed enormously with Gary Edwards by far the leading run scorer across the club in 2025 (see stats below for details) scoring over the magical one thousand league runs mark.
So, three games that had to be won were won. What about the First XI, who I described as on the beach in last weeks report. Well, they may have earned their Bermuda shorts and Kiss Me Quick hats, but nobody wanted us to wrap up a season, that must be considered a success, with a fourth straight defeat. The trouble was the visitors to The Paddock were Chelmsford – a side in with a very real chance of the title if they could beat Fives and hope that Wanstead could topple wobbling Colchester in Northeast London.
It brings me enormous joy to report Fives produced by far their best Overs format performance of the season as they added the notable scalp of Chelmsford to those of Hornchurch and Wanstead. We lost the toss again and out trooped Ben Yeats and Feroze Khushi to face the pace and swing of Andy Styan and Rishabh Upadhyay.
The opening pair set the tone for the entire match. Blunting the title chasing attack before launching their own repost. Yeats had just launched spinner Parrish for two sixes in an over when he was well caught of the bowling of Devenish for 40, breaking a stand of 110 for the first wicket. His replacement, Viv Hassan, was instantly into his work making a lovely to watch 50 as he pushed the score up to 205-2 with Feroze. Inevitably, the former Essex star reached his fifth league ton before being outstandingly caught by Jack Sterland for 115.
Thereafter, all the Fives batters died on their swords as bats were flung in an unselfish attempt to add as many of humanly possible in the late overs. Huz Umer crashed 27 from 18 balls and Bilal Kamal 17 from just 9 deliveries as Fives concluded with a very handy looking 310-7 in 50 overs.
By the time Chelmsford took the field for their innings news had widely circulated of Colchester’s utter destruction of Wanstead. The National Cup semi-finalists had been skittled for 80 and the title was heading to Northeast Essex. Whether that effected the batting who knows but one must credit the Fives bowling and fielding.
Skipper Brad Copper made the initial breakthrough as Viv pouched Hagan at long off for single figures before the outstanding Ben Waine dismissed dangerman Sterland for 24 – excellently caught at cover by Kabir Sungeen. The opening bowlers were on a roll as each bowled their 10 overs straight. Brad ended with 2-63 whilst seamer Ben Waine grabbed 3-51.
Viv Hassen and Kaumal Nanayakkara came on and polished off the tail despite some occasional huge ball-losing blows. Viv once again showing his significant all-round ability taking 3-36 whilst the ever-reliable Kaumal took 2-31.
A huge winning margin of 125 runs and a perfect conclusion to the season topped off by discovering we had finished 6th ahead of Hornchurch. Anything other than relegation for the First XI must be considered a success and the final league placing is beyond expectations. Add in some stella performances and notable victories involving 300+ scores it’s been a great season. When bad we’ve stunk the place out, but ECB Premier League level is an unforgiving standard if you’re not quite on it.
Undoubtedly several major reasons in turning around the First XI season was the regular availability of Feroze Khushi and the important contribution of Ben Waine and Viv Hassen. Feroze made a compelling case to be considered the finest batsman in the entire league whilst Ben Waine was as good a seam bowler as any across the division. Viv is a classy batsman and highly capable and improving wicket taking bowler. Adding those players, and the excellent overseas Kaumal, to the backbone of the title winning side of 2024 turned us from relegation fighters to comfortable midtable as one of the next outside the elite top four clubs.
As we close 2025 and a final match report, I’d like to express my sincere thanks to Dean Humphrey for his incredible work in supporting and looking after the First XI as Team Manager. Looking after eleven children probably would have involved less work. The list of his jobs was endless and often thankless. To all the club men and women at Fives – thank you – your tireless work to keep pitches cut and marked, players transported, accounts tallied, league meetings attended, teas provided, admin completed means the 44 guys and girls every week get to play. There wouldn’t be cricket without you.
On a personal level, so very many have offered lovely feedback about the reports. I’m so glad they were enjoyed. Much love to all.
Andy
First XI 2025 Stats (League Only)
Batting Bowling
Feroze Khushi 708 Kaumal Nanayakkara 35 wkts
Ben Yeats 469 Viv Hassen 21 wkts
Aryan Gupta 464 Ben Waine 18 wkts
Second XI Stats (League Only)
Batting Bowliing
Terry Ballard 641 Mohammed Adams 22 wkts
Rohan Qureshi 627 Akbat Khan 17 wkts
James McKay 523 Sahib Sungeen 15 wkts
Third XI 2025 Stats (League Only)
Batting Bowling
Aamir Ali 586 Aamir Ali 17 wkts
Anand Khandelwal 425 Azan Hamid 16 wkts
Himanshu Dadra 256 Various 8 wkts
Fourth XI 2025 Stats (League Only)
Batting Bowling
Gary Edwards 1024 Nikhil Patel 25 wkts
M Rashid Hussain 388 Zahid Gul 18 wkts
Zahid Gul 367 Mohammed Ismail 15 wkts
Highest Individual Innings (All Sides)
161 Rohan Qureshi (2nd XI)
141 Feroze Khushi (1st XI)
140 Ben Yeats (1st XI)
Best Bowling Individual Innings (All Sides)
6-73 Viv Hassen (1st XI)
5-27 Akbar Khan (2nd XI)
5-31 Harsh Desai (3rd XI)
Most Catches (All Sides)
Viv Hassen (10)
Most WK Dismissals
Gary Norris (19)