Old Parkonians 206-8 (52 overs) Stanford 207-8 (44 overs)

Stanford skipper Ross Poulton (82no) ensured a win for his side when all looked lost at 97-6. He engineered an excellent 8th wicket stand of 78 with great support from Kevin Smith (32), to clinch a tight win by a couple of wickets.

Having invited the Old Boys to bat, Poulton snaffled the first three wickets with smart slip catches off James Drain (1-19), Daryl Woodford (1-27) and Smith (3-82). Once again, Smith did the donkey-work with the ball, bowling a straight 20 overs to help contain the home side. Old Parks enjoyed some success after the first three went, as Rootes (54) and Robbins (42) shared a big half-century stand for the 4th wicket. Their total was boosted over the 200 mark with a hard-hit 36 from Divakoran.

Stanford were knocked back by the early losses of Duncan Page and Nathan Shearer. Lee Knight (22) and Luke Dennis (20) chipped in before Rootes (3-68) and Gordon (3-42) got amongst the wickets to put the home side in charge, before Poulton stepped up to the mark.

Stanford II 229-8 (52 overs) Old Parkonians II 131-6 (28.1 overs)

Stanford were inserted by Old Parks, who slowly worked their way through the batting line-up. The one person they were unable to shift was Mark Knight, who batted through the innings to make a resolute 93 not out. Next top scorers were Dean Hitchcock (24) and Harry Cook (20), so the home team were indebted to the generosity of the visiting bowlers for the donation of 46 extras! Exempt from criticism was Bikash who bowled an exemplary 13 overs to return 3-31.

The match had been played in very poor spirit, with both teams exchanging verbal un-pleasantries. Stanford’s opening bowlers, Ian Sanderson and Matt Higgins, both struck early to despatch the visitor’s opening pair. Singh (47) rallied the team, before Andy Powley (3-16) had them struggling at 98-6. However, Malik (40no) and Shazad (15no) appeared to be rallying the side. There was another incident however, which led to the Old Parks skipper conceding the match and taking his team home, leaving the home team victors by default.

Stanford III 153ao (51.3 overs) South Woodford IV 158-2 (30.2 overs)

Stanford were really under the cosh having been invited to bat, as batting mainstay Geoff Lake was dismissed for 25. He became the 5th Stanford batsman dismissed with only 49 on the board. However, U15 Sumit Sharma (42) batted with real maturity, sharing partnerships of 45 with both Adrian Page (22) and U13 Sam Sewell (24) to see his side to 153 in the 52nd over. Mark Carvell (4-32) was the pick of the South Woodford bowlers.

Having worked hard to accumulate a half-decent total, Stanford were again unable to make any sort of impact with the ball. Adrian Page (1-41) bowled 13 tight overs, but Imran Abrahim (57no) and skipper Dave Walcott (50) ensured there were few alarms as the home team coasted to an 8 wicket win.

Upminster VI 132ao (27 overs) Stanford IV 129ao (23.5 overs)

Stanford’s 4th string went agonisingly close to clinching their 3rd victory of an up and down season as they went down to Upminster 6ths by just 3 runs. Hero for Stanford with bat and ball was Chris Vale. He collected 5-63 in the Upminster innings and then nearly won the game with a buccaneering 65 when came the home team’s turn to bat.

Upminster were invited to bat and struggled as Vale received good backing from skipper John Youngman (2-9) and U13 Jono Simes (2-14). Top scorers for the visitors were Leach (34) and Chiverton (24).

Stanford lost half their wickets with only 28 on the board, but Vale was joined by Youngman (21), in an adventurous 61 run partnership that left them within sniffing distance of the win. The visiting bowlers kept their nerve however and it was their opener Mike Marshall (7-42) who clinched the match with 3 wickets in his second spell.