Ardleigh captain urges team to use momentum to pull closer to safety

Ardleigh Green skipper Chris Cook was overjoyed the team picked up back-to-back wins for the first time this season with victory over Leigh.

Green have begun to turn things around having gone 10 games without a win from the start of the campaign.

With successive triumphs behind them for the first time since the beginning of the 2013 season, Cook is now keen to close the gap on those above them in Essex Division Two.

“We’re thrilled. It will definitely give us even more encouragement heading into the weekend,” he said.

“We needed that first win and wanted to kick on. Now we’ve got two in a row, hopefully we can go again.”

Ardleigh were put into bat at Central Park but toiled early on and found themselves 70-5 when Muhammad Asif came to the crease.

His knock of 56 proved important as it hauled the hosts to 199 before they were bowled out, which Cook believe gave them a fighting chance of winning the match.

“It was a damp wicket and we probably would have bowled as well had we won the toss,” he added.

“We lost a few early wickets and manage to scrape our way to 199. It was a decent score as the pitch was still doing a fair bit at the end.”

Asif was also in good form with the ball, finishing with figures 4-53 as the visitors were bowled out for 172 in reply.

Having seen such an important all-round performance from Asif, Cook was quick to pay tribute to the team’s star performer.

“Muhammad was brilliant with the bat and the ball. He worked hard for his half century and his bowling performance was fantastic. He was probably our man of the match.”