Weekly report – 25th August 2018

Another better week for the Club with two wins and two by default for the six Saturday league sides and wins for the 1st and 3rd XIs mean they have given themselves the opportunity to avoid relegation.  

T Rippon Mid Essex Premier DivisionThe 1st XI hosted fellow relegation strugglers Rettendon 1st XI in a crucial game to give the winning side an advantage going into the final week. Batting first the visitors started quickly and were 84-1 after 17 overs. The introduction of Ian Bryant (2-7 off 10 overs) and Chris Frost (2-18 off 10 overs) stemmed the scoring rate down to 100 after 33 overs and the innings closed on 161-8 in their 45 overs. Rayleigh started more slowly but with sensible batting and good running between the wickets Jason Ox (65*), Luke Sullivan (29) and Ian Turnbull (27) saw Rayleigh home in the 34th over for the loss of 4 wickets.  The 1st XI now need to win against bottom side Brookweald to ensure they remain in the Premier Division.

T Rippon Mid Essex League Division 1.  The 2nd XI travelled to play Great Baddow 1st XI who batted first and scored 245-6, Graham Herbert taking 2-25. This target was way beyond the 2nd XI batsmen who were bowled out for 58, once again only Adam Krise (32) making any impression on the scoreboard.

T Rippon Mid Essex League Division 5. The 3rd XI entertained top of the table Rainham 2nd who batted first and totalled 197-9, Mike Law taking 2-24. Against a strong bowling attack Rayleigh batted carefully and led by Martin Sanderson (44), Kalpesh Patel (40) and Steve Adams (24) an unlikely win seemed possible and an excellent unbeaten 8th wicket partnership between Daryl Ox (23*) and James Wratten saw Rayleigh home in the 40th over. Wins for other sides in the relegation zone means that the 3rd need to beat Tillingham 2nd XI in their last league game of the season to ensure they remain in Division 5.

T Rippon Mid Essex League Division 7. The 4th XI were due to play Old Southendians 1st XI but unfortunately they have withdrawn from the League so for the second week running the 4th XI won by default.

T Rippon Mid Essex League Division 8.  The 5th XI travelled to play Chignal 1st XI and scored 163-6 in their 40 overs, Richard Verrinder (45) and David Cox (23) leading the scoring.  The visitors passed this score for the loss of 5 wickets in the 25th over, Kuldeep Paik taking 2-14 and Jamie Coleman (2-35).  This result means the 5th XI finish bottom of the Division and will relegated to Division 9 next season.

T Rippon Mid Essex League Division 10. The 6th XI were due to play Bentley 4th XI but they were unable to raise a side so the 6th XI gained 26 points by default. A friendly game against Tillingham 3rd XI was arranged instead and batting first the visitors posted 194-6 in their 40 overs, Sam Harmsworth taking 3-25 and John Attfield 2-34. In a spirited reply led by Dave Turner (41) and Sean Treweek (64) Rayleigh fell short losing by 9 runs with 9 wickets down at the end of their 40 overs.