ByDanny Caro, Danny Caro
Chigwell & Hainault claimed an impressive 62-run victory in a friendly against Old Parkonians.
Chigwell & Hainault's golden start to the season was put to the test in blustery conditions following a heavy downpour. Up against familiar opposition, who have previously proved too strong, they got off to a bad start when Nigel Kateph fell to Tariq for 7.
The introduction of Brad Ormsby after two years away from the game proved to be crucial. Along with opener Tony Bloom, the pair started to put together a handy partnership, reaching 50 after the first 10 overs. Bloom, in particular, was starting to assert himself with some classy drives before being done by a superb piece of bowling by Suresh for 29.
Vice-captain Matt Murray joined Ormsby at the crease and they put on one of the most memorable partnerships in the club's history. Murray put his ankle injury to the back of his mind and decided that boundaries were the easiest way to score runs. But in fact it was some intelligent running (or hobbling) that was a particular feature of the partnership.
Ormsby shook off any rustiness by playing a composed innings which came with very few risks. He was particularly vicious on the leg-side and dispatched the variety of Old Parkonians' spinners regularly to the boundary, including one massive six off Shaam.
Murray instead focused the majority of his hitting down the ground, including a huge six over long-on. The pair added 136 off 16 overs before Murray was caught attempting a cut shot off Gurmeet for 60.
Ormsby fell soon after for a superb 71, stumped by Howard Berlin off the bowling of Shaam. Some late hitting by Ali Khan and Danny Myers produced 50 runs from the last five overs to produce an extremely competitive 262 from the allocated 35 overs.
The Old Parkonians' reply started solidly with Tariq pouncing on anything that drifted onto his legs. Alex Katspeh and Khan pegged them back and after 10 overs, Parkonians had reached 54.
Chigwell needed a breakthrough. Skipper Danny Myers led the way, picking up both dangerous openers. The second wicket of Tariq, who had previously scored a century against Chigwell, was particularly crucial when he looked set for another big score on 48.
Stuart Kaye kept things tight at the other end and was rewarded for his nagging line and length with a well-taken caught and bowled.
The Old Parkonian's batsmen looked to consolidate but with a required run rate of over 12 runs an over, the pressure finally took its toll when Gurmeet was bowled by the returning Katseph after he had hit a flurry of boundaries. Katseph also picked up the important wicket of the opposition captain Suresh in a fiery second spell.
A procession of wickets then ensued, with Myers picking up a further two wickets to finish his allocated overs with excellent figures of 4-46. Father and son duo Nigel (2-38) and Alex (2-39) Katseph also provided the firepower to bowl Chigwell & Hainault to a successive comfortable victory by 62 runs.