Rayleigh 110 all out off 17 Overs
Stock 107 all out off 19 Overs
Rayleigh won by 3 runs

Team: Christian H (Capt), Gideon H, George B, Nathan H, Max J, Josh J, Sam L, Stephen L, Matt J, Matt C and David H.

Another mixed U11-U15 Rayleigh side visited Stock on a balmy Friday evening in late July and were greeted by a wicket greener than any part of the surroundings!

Batting first on such a surface against the new ball was always going to be a tricky prospect and three ducks later we found ourselves at 8 for 3 and without a run scored off the bat! However, a solid 4th wicket partnership of 39 between Max (17) and George (17) got the scoreboard moving with a further 25 runs coming for the 5th wicket between Max and Christian. Huge praise must go to Max for the way he got into line and played straight — a lesson to some of the more senior players in the side 8 of whom were bowled.

With an 11 ball cameo from Matt C at the end (21 including a big 6) and extras contributing an incredible 39 runs we nonetheless found ourselves bowled out in 17 overs for just 110.

So could we preserve out 100% success rate against Stock? Well for long periods of the second innings it looked very unlikely as we chased leather around the ground. But several key moments saved the day: a quite brilliant stumping by Matt J off Sam L, a superb direct hit run out by Christian, a huge swinging delivery by Steven L to bowl a well set batsman and Matt C holding his nerve to dismiss the last man with only 4 runs needed to win.

This really was a classic case of snatching victory from the jaws of defeat and was incredibly tough on a Stock side who had this game won for long periods. However, great credit to Rayleigh for fighting to the end and for producing some magic moments. I still haven’t stopped shaking my head with disbelief several days later!!

Next up is Rankins (A) in a 30 over a-side game on 12th August immediately followed the next morning by a trip to Southchurch Park for a 25 over match with Old Southendians. I’m sure there will also be scope for another fixture with Stock before the season ends.

Hadleigh 127 for 3 off 20 Overs
Rayleigh 129 for 6 off 18 Overs
Rayleigh won by 4 wickets

Team: Christian H (Capt), Gideon H, George B, Nathan H, Lloyd S, Sam L, Tom G, Matt J, Adam K, Steven L and Josh J.

The last league game of the season and a genuine chance to beat a Hadleigh side missing it’s two leading batsmen. Christian lost the toss and we were asked to field. The seam bowling was generally sound, if a little wide of the stumps, on what was a good pitch and fast outfield. But it was the two slow bowlers George (4–1–20–1) and Christian (4–0–15–1) who excelled.

A final total of 127 was probably only about par for the conditions so we approached the run chase in optimistic mood.

Once again, Christian (38*) and George (38*) got Rayleigh off to a flyer with Nathan (24) joining in the fun until he needlessly ran himself out and sparked a near disastrous collapse. We went from the dizzy heights of 103–0 after 13 overs to 125–6 inside the next 4 overs and only the calm head of Tom with a classical cover drive off the last ball of the 18th over saw us across the line.

A great result against a team unbeaten in 2 years and one that should see us finish 3rd of five teams in our division. Let us hope we can kick-on from here next season and aim to finish top!

Next up is Stock (A) on Friday 30th July and Rankins (A) on Thursday 12th August — just two of a series of friendlies throughout the remainder of the Summer.

Eastwood 152 for 9 off 20 Overs.

Rayleigh 133 for 9 off 20 Overs
Eastwood won by 19 runs

Team: Christian H (Capt), George B, Gideon H, Lloyd S, Tom G, Sam L, Matt J, Josh J, Adam K, Shaun G and Nick B.

With rain in the air the opposition were inserted and promptly started hammering the ball to all parts of the ground! The only bowler to survive the carnage was Tom G with the creditable figures of 3 for 20 from his four overs. The fielding was generally lacklustre and we conceded two ‘all run’ fours, many pinched singles and several (easy) missed run out opportunities. All this added up to a hefty total of 152 and our highest run chase of the season.

And what a magnificent effort by the two openers Christian and George who simply tore into the opposition bowling with a flurry of exciting strokes and aggressive running which kept the scoreboard racing along at 9 to 10 runs an over. Alas, it was not to last and two retirements saw the innings go into meltdown and end up at a 20 over total of 133 — good enough to win on most occasions but not when having performed so poorly during the first half of the match.

Our final league game of the season is at Hadleigh next Wednesday.

Benfleet 113 for 4 off 20 Overs

Rayleigh 108 for 9 off 20 Overs
Benfleet won by 5 runs.

Team: Christian H (Capt), George B, Tom P, Nick B, Lloyd S, Sam L, Steven L, Tom G, Matt J, Max J and Josh J.

WIDE OH WIDE OH WIDE!!!!

18 wides to be precise and 1 no ball in a total of 24 extras – Benfleet’s second highest scorer on the day and around 20% of their runs!! All the seamers were culpable and all need to practice their bowling skills before the next match. We will struggle to win games where we concede so many free runs and allow so many extra deliveries.

For the record, there was one wicket apiece for Tom G, Sam, Christian and Josh and runs for George (26), Tom P (18), Sam (18) and Christian (15). We scored at around 5 an over for most of our innings but a steady fall of wickets hurt us and we fell 6 runs short of victory, a margin which would have been far greater but for some late order hitting by Sam. Special mention also to Tom P who has recently stepped up to the ‘A’ Team and is turning in some good performances with the bat and in the field.

Fairview 84 for 8 off 20 Overs

Rayleigh 87 for 6 off 16.5 Overs

Rayleigh won by 4 wickets.

Team: Christian H (Capt), Gideon H, Sam L, Matt J, Tom P, George B, Lloyd S, Tom G, Matt C, Max J and Josh J

The first reverse league fixture of the season and a 3^rd meeting in as many months with local rivals Fairview. We came second best in a close encounter at Rawreth 5 weeks previous so everyone was keen to redress the balance of local power and restore some pride.

Christian won the toss and inserted Fairview. Our new opening bowling combination of Gideon and Lloyd kept things tight early on going for around 4 runs an over before Matt (4-0-16-2) and Sam (4-1-15-2) came on to get the wickets tumbling, with Tom also chipping in with a couple at the end of the innings. And asked to bowl the 19^th over U11 Josh conceded just 2 runs!

Fairview’s total of just 84 never seemed likely to be enough although it took an excellent 3^rd wicket partnership of 45 between Christian (30*) and Tom (15) to steady the ship after a couple of early losses and we then contrived to lose 4 wickets for the addition of just 3 runs including a hat trick! Luckily Christian’s calm head and a quite superb effort by our other U11 Max (7*) saw us over the line comfortably enough in the end.

We need to build momentum ahead of our remaining league matches and make every effort to have an unbeaten second half of the season.

Rayleigh 96 all out off 19.3 Overs

Stock 92 for 9 off 12 Overs

Rayleigh won by 4 runs.

Team: Christian H (Capt), Gideon H, Sam L, Sam M, Matt D, Stephen L, Luke S, Lloyd S, Thomas P, Matt J and Matt C.

With a break in the league schedule a mixed U11-U15 Rayleigh side took on Stock in a friendly at Rawreth Lane.

Batting first on a good wicket in pleasant warm conditions we struggled to find any real rhythm with only Christian (28) and Lloyd (17) significantly troubling the scorers. There were nice little cameo innings from Stephen L, Matt D and Sam L and extras contributed a mighty 23 more runs to an all out total of 96 in the final over.

The bowling and fielding had to be spot on to defend a below par total and so it proved with brothers Christian (2-0-9-3) and Gideon (4-0-15-2) sharing 5 wickets with a further one apiece for Sam L and Matt C. There were also fine catches from Matt J and Sam L, who also combined to produce a quite excellent run out. With the wickets falling at regular intervals we were able to restrict Stock to a 20 over total of 92-9 and so win by a mere 4 runs.

We are now looking to play Stock away in another friendly on Friday 30^th July.

Hadleigh 123 for 6 off 20 Overs
Rayleigh 114 for 6 off 20 Overs
Hadleigh won by 9 runs

Team: Christian H (Capt), Gideon H, George B, Nick B, Nathan H, Lloyd S, Sam L, Tom P, Tom G, Matt J and Matt C.

Following last week’s crushing defeats and the subsequent defection of a couple of players it was good to see the team respond with a vastly improved performance against the Division’s only unbeaten side. In fact, if you were to take away Hadleigh’s two opening batsmen, who were quite simply a class apart, we would probably have been on the right end of the result.

As it was, a flurry of excellent shots by the Hadleigh openers saw them both retire within 8 overs and a total of around 80. With sanity restored our bowlers were then able to drag the innings back such that only another 43 runs were scored in the next 12 overs. Nathan (4–1–15–0), George (4–1–18–1), Christian (4–1–11–1) and Tom G with two wickets bowled us back into the game and were well supported by an outstanding effort from all the fielders including 4 catches (Sam L, Matt C, Matt J and George) and a run out (George).

In reply we lost Christian early on but recovered well and moved along at around 5 an over for most of the innings. With Lloyd gone for 19 and George retired at 36, Gideon smashed his way to 30 ably supported by Tom P but as the asking rate climbed to 9 and then 10 an over we struggled to stay in touch and ultimately fell 9 runs short.

This was a great effort by all involved and a massive improvement over last week but we must continue to work hard in all aspects of the game if we are to achieve better results in the second half of the season.

Rayleigh 69 for 6 off 20 Overs
Eastwood 74 for no wicket off 13.1 Overs
Eastwood won by 10 wickets

Team: Christian H (Capt), George B, Luke K, Gideon H, Nathan H, Lloyd S, Sam L, Hugh K, Matt C, Max J and Josh J.

Back to back 10 wicket defeats on successive evenings and another dismal batting effort containing 60% dot ball deliveries — a trend seems to be emerging! With the first wicket not falling until around the 12th over and with just 37 runs on the scoreboard, the later batsmen were left with too much to do in too short a time. Once again the bowlers and fielders tried hard but it was a thankless task.

Thanks to the brothers Josh and Max for turning out at short notice.

Rayleigh 70 all out off 19.5 Overs
Leigh-on-Sea 71 for no wicket off 11.3 Overs
Leigh won by 10 wickets.

Team: Christian H (Capt), Luke K, Sam L, Hugh K, Gideon H, George B, Tom G, Nathan H, Lloyd S, Shaun G, and Matt C.

This 10 wicket mauling at the hands of Leigh was quite simply a lesson in how to bat, bowl and field. Unfortunately, we let ourselves down badly with the bat scoring an all out total of just 70 runs in one ball shy of our allotted 20 overs. An innings containing 71 dot balls from a possible 120 means that 60% of deliveries were not scored off! Such a small total made it impossible for the bowlers and fielders who, nonetheless, stuck to their job and made the Leigh batsmen work hard for their win. Back to the drawing board after this one!!

Benfleet 125 for 1 off 20 Overs
Rayleigh 126 for 1 off 19.2 Overs
Rayleigh won by 9 wickets.

Team: Christian H (Capt), Luke K, Gideon H, Nick B, Shaun G, Nathan H, Lloyd S, Sam L, Hugh K, Tom G and Matt C.

Just our second League outing of the season and after losing to Fairview in the opener this was already looking like a ‘must win’ game! Asked to field first, our bowlers and fielders immediately struggled to come to terms with how fast the outfield was and how good the wicket for batting. With the ball disappearing to all parts we quickly had to take pace off the ball with the introduction of Christian (4–1-17-0) and Matt (3–0-13-0) who did well to drag the scoring rate back without ever looking like taking wickets. On the plus side the wide and no ball count was well down and what should have been a Benfleet total well in excess of 140 was kept to just 125.

The loss of an early wicket brought in Lloyd (37*) to join Christian (35*) and this pair built a formidable partnership at around a run a ball so allowing Nathan (22*) and Sam (7*) to finish the job 2 balls into the last over. This was a well crafted and exceptionally well paced run chase by all the batsmen.

Next up is Leigh-on-Sea in the Cup followed immediately by Eastwood in the League.