Fives and Heronians Cricket Club

F&HCC Match Report 31/05/2025

There are weeks when it’s best to leave penning the weekly report a few days. Time to
consider things in the cold light of day after a period of reflection. Maybe even watch some of the game back on You Tube to verify initial thoughts. By now you’ll have guessed the First XI lost – heavily!

There will be weeks and games this season when we’ll just not be at the level of the
opposition. Playing away to undefeated and title chasing Colchester was always likely to be
filed into that category. What everyone is entitled to expect is a wholehearted maximum
effort throughout the entire contest. Did we get that? – honestly hand on heart I’m not sure
we did.

Context required before we head into the details. Colchester are a great side, full of high-
quality players, many current Essex contracted players or regulars of the county Second XI
plus a pro who plays for Auckland. It was always going to be tough despite Brad winning the
toss.

Fives batted first and it was obvious that we were going to have a challenging day from the
outset as Dan Gladwell (Essex 2’s) and Liam Wheeler (Auckland) beat the bat frequently
with runs as rare as a Tottenham trophy win. Brad Copper nicked off to a good ball that
moved off the deck leaving Ben Yeats and Ed Fluck to survive the opening 12 over burst
from the quicks. Ed made an attractive 24 before being dismissed by the spin and guile of Charlie Fernandes.

On the approach to drinks Yeats departed for 36 as he attempted to up the rate leaving us
81-3 at the halfway mark. Huz Umer and Bilal Kamal fell quickly to the spinners before our
best partnership of match as Aryan Gupta (37) and Kabir Sungeen (42) put on 69 for the
sixth wicket. The tail added a few here and there to take us up to 192 all out in the final over. A battling effort against a very proficient attack.

The home side are blessed with an opening bat who would have been an Essex contracted
player were it not for his university studies. Joe MacGregor is a prolific Premier Division run
scorer and coming off consecutive unbeaten hundreds was full of confidence. However, it
was his pinch-hitting partner Feroze Ahmed who set the tone by smashing the opening over for 15 and racing to 39 before being trapped leg before by Kaumal. Brad Copper beat Ben
Robinson all ends up leaving us in the scrap (just about) with the board on 82-2. Enter Essex contracted pro Simon Fernandes.

Any flagging hopes of causing Colchester a fright disappeared when Brad found the edge of MacGregor’s bat only for the ball to fly past first slip without the chance being pouched.

There would be not a sniff of a chance after that as the Essex pair dominated. Singles were
taken at will and anything lose was punished. It was a masterclass.

Sadly, there reached a point when some of our lads appeared to give up. It appeared we had
accepted the inevitable outcome. The field didn’t change. People stopped chasing. The
optics were not good.

I’m only the scorer and all our lads are better cricketers than I ever was. However, I’ll
guarantee at least one team will be relegated by the margin of just a point or two. It happens
every year – ask Loughton. Let’s hope we don’t regret not fighting for that additional bonus point we would have claimed by taking just one more wicket on Saturday.

With at least three absent players available for selection this week people need to play for
their place and fight for the cause – especially given we face a Billericay side who we beat in
Div One last year both head-to-head and to the league title. Come on boys. You fought long and hard to achieve this level so scrap hard to retain it.

To The Paddock and the Second XI also facing Colchester. James McKay told me they were
a side who were strong on their own patch, and he was proved right again. It was James
himself who led the way, with an excellent 71 with the bat as Fives posted 273-4 batting first. Shahrukh Irfan (52) and Terry Ballard (54) both made half centuries whilst Rob McKay
chipped in with 35.

The match was in the balance for a long period, but Fives plugged away by taking wickets before Mohammed Adams (2-32) and Sahib Sungeen (4-42) dismissed the lower order to claim a 40 run victory. Special mention to Jack O’Callaghan who bowled 9 overs for just 31 (3.44 an over) in a match where most were conceding sixes and more.

The Third XI travelled down the A127 to Old Souths despite a fine effort in the field to restrict the home side to 186 all out (Adam Tanveer 8 overs 4-10 and Abhijit Panwar 9 overs 4-47 plus two wickets for Tahir Mughal). Sadly, we didn’t bat well except for Nitin Nagpal who made 74. We ended up just 10 runs short but with almost 14 overs still left in the tank. Probably one that got away with all those wasted overs left unbowled.

Better news from the Fours. They chased down Buckhurst Hill’s 160 all out very comfortably to win by 7 wickets. Mohammed Ismail and Nikhil Patel both claimed three wickets each whilst Evan Britton assisted with a brace. Skipper Gary Edwards struck a magnificent 94 not out (13 fours and 2 sixes) was Fives coasted to the win.

Have a good week. Prepare for battle Saturday!

Andy

 1^st team result and scorecard -   Essex League

2^nd Team result and scorecard - Essex League

3^rd Team result and scorecard - Essex League 


4^th Team result and scorecard - Essex League 

Fives and Heronians is one of the most picturesque cricket grounds in Essex. Situated in Chigwell. 

Established in 1971, the Club offers fantastic facilities with a lovely clubhouse and bar. We have two new state of the art cricket nets.

The club offers cricketing opportunities for men, women, boys and girls of all ages, abilities, and backgrounds.

Fives and Heronians have an ECB Club mark and compete in the Hamro Foundation Essex League (essexcricket.com) where we field four senior league sides.

We also have a thriving colt’s section with practice sessions on a Friday evening and matches for many age groups on a Sunday and mid-week. Please see that section on the website. For further details contact. g_edwards@yahoo.com

We welcome visitors, supporters, and members from the local area to come along watch the cricket and get involved. For further details contact deanwh79@gmail.com