It was a monumental day for Colchester & East Essex Cricket Club when all three men’s XI’s enjoyed victory on the opening day of the Essex Premier League season.

The First XI travelled to Billericay CC where the home team established a target of 204 all out in 43.2 overs. Openers Arjun Bhardwaj (56), Grant Roelofson (31) raced to a fifty partnership before visitor’s paceman, Daniel Gladwell, removed the dangerous South African.

The only other Billericay resistance came from Rowan Elliott (58) as Colchester seamer Liam Wheeler ripped through their middle order taking 4-44 in his allotted ten overs. Gladwell (2-21), Vikas Agawal (2-35), and Charlie Fernandes (2-34) each took two wickets in support.
Feroze Ahmed once again tidily took the wicket keeping gloves and seized five catches as Skipper Simon Fernandes shrewdly managed his bowlers and fielders.

Then Essex Wicket Keeper Fernandes (58) had work to do with the bat; matching Joe Macgregor’s fine fifty (58) as Colchester initially cruised towards the modest target.
However, the wheels almost fell off as Billericay’s Arjun Bhardway (5-38) concluded a fine man of the match performance with a hat-trick following his earlier fifty runs.

That wasn’t sufficient to prevent defeat as Darren Eckford (10 n.o) and Liam Wheeler (15 n.o) nervously edged the visitors over the line to conclude a three wicket win and for Colchester to claim the twenty points to go joint top of the Essex Premier league. It is early days, but for once an encouraging start to the campaign.

For a full scorecard and live stream visit https://colchesteree.play-cricket.com/website/results/7016637.

However, the performances of the day all occurred at Castle Park where in the Essex League the Colchester Second XI defeated Stanford Le Hope by a massive 256 runs, and the Third XI defeated Chappel and Wakes Coln CC off the last ball of the match, with both of the extremely youthful Two Counties league sides amassing over 270 runs.

Nobody can recall two centurions in a single innings of an Essex League Second XI game in Castle Park, but skipper Subash Perumal (100) and former skipper George Offord (105) aggressively drove Colchester to an enormous 342-5.

In reply, Standford Le Hope struggled to 77 all out as Seb Wheeler (4-17) and Oscar Baker (3-15) tore the heart out of the visitors batting.

In the Third XI contest, the standout performances came from skipper, Ian Binns (72) and Toni-Anne Wayne (56), the latter borrowed from the Women’s XI, backed up by young Jacob Pearce (47) who also took two wickets.

Chappel and Wakes Coln possibly thought they had the game in the bag scoring 279-4. Colchester required three from the final delivery, but a no-ball +1 followed by a single broke the visitor’s hearts in the closest of finishes.

On the previous Sunday, Toni-Anne Wayne (31) again starred with the bat as the Women’s First XI defeated Upminster by 37 runs in the Essex Women's Premier League, after Colchester skipper Bella Johnson had hit a magnificent 83.

Further batting contributions came from Rebecca Neil (22), Olivia Gravatt (27) and Natalie Samaranayake (27 n.o.).

Colchester Women set a target of 235-9 and Upminster could only muster 198-7 as Maisie Cox (2-16) and Akanka Sharma (2-32) took the bowling honours.

Next Saturday (17/05) the men’s First XI entertain Chelmsford CC in Castle Park and on Sunday the Women’s XI host Hutton CC in their respective Premier Divisions. Admission is free.

One final observation, Simon Fernandes (58), Subash Perumal (100), Ian Binns (72) and Bella Johnson (83) made it an exceptional week for batting contributions by all of the Colchester adult team captains, with each surpassing fifty runs and Subash going on to make an outstanding ton. The Pavilion bar is always a good place to be especially on days as successful as this.