Upminster captain Alan Ison is full of praise for opponents Ilford but wants his side to complete the double over Nigel Jacobs' men.

Ison's side make the trip to Valentines Park on Saturday as they look to get back to winning ways after back-to-back defeats in the Hamro Foundation Essex League.

Ilford, however, are five games unbeaten and slowly climbing up the Division One table.

“They’re a good young team - that was evident when we played them in the first game of the season,” Ison said.

“They’ve got good young players, their captain Nigel Jacobs is an extremely good player, Theeban Tavarasa is a good player so it should be a good game and a good test.

Romford Recorder: P Gupta (L) and A Ison enjoy a useful partnership for Upminster during Upminster CC vs Fives & Heronians CC, Hamro Foundation Essex League Cricket at Upminster Park on 5th June 2021P Gupta (L) and A Ison enjoy a useful partnership for Upminster during Upminster CC vs Fives & Heronians CC, Hamro Foundation Essex League Cricket at Upminster Park on 5th June 2021 (Image: ©TGS Phototgsphoto.co.uk+44 1376 553468)

“We’ve beaten them once so hopefully we can beat them again. After a couple of losses we want to get back to winning ways and a couple of wins would get us right up the league.

“We’re halfway through so plenty of cricket left to be played and it’s all to play for.”

Upminster head into the clash after a narrow 19-run defeat to Hutton last weekend.

Having won the toss and elected to field first, Ison saw Hutton post a score of 204-9 with John Curtis (3-46), Billy Wright (3-40) and Nehal Butt (2-27) doing the damage with the ball.

In reply, Upminster were dismissed out for 184, despite decent knocks from Tom Daniels (34), Ison (23), and Butt (35).

“It was a really good game of cricket to be fair, obviously disappointed they got up to 200 when we had them 70-7, but I guess when we had them seven down we didn’t bowl as well as we did to get the first seven wickets," added Ison.

“Hutton’s number six and nine batted really well, so we have to give them credit, where credit is due, but I still think 200 was a chaseable score on that wicket but unfortunately we fell short.

“They’re a good young side, they’ve got good players, but we could have easily won that game if a couple of our good players had got a good score then it could have been an easy chase.

“It’s all ifs and buts, but they won the game, and they got the 25 points because they played better on the day so fair play to them.”