Chris Bennett blogs about life at Harold Wood CC

There were some very sore heads in the Harold Wood area on Sunday morning thanks to a second team victory and a Chris Clarke match winning half century in the threes. A recipe for disaster.

Chris Clarke, aka Twinge, having gone years without hitting the ball off the square has now hit back-to-back half centuries at better than a run a ball.

Suffice to say, the jugs flowed at a similarly quick rate. It was quite clear that he was preparing everyone for a big night when he returned to the club with a carrier bag full of reduced price sandwiches from the local supermarket.

Unfortunately there are not too many stories to tell from this Saturday as the author of this blog has very few memories of the night itself.

The combination of a league win and Arsenal FA Cup success proving his downfall. Balgores Best Kebab was enjoyed en route home.

In cricket related news, the ones were overcome by some quality batting on the front pitch when remarkably Colchester managed to chase 260 one down in only 38 overs.

In rather slower paced proceedings the twos were away at Stanford-Le-Hope who at one point were 18-2 off 18 overs. Stanford made their way to 136 before being bowled out.

The twos chased this 5 down in quick time. As usual a random wobble took place with about 10 to win much to the skippers disgust.

The threes beat Hornchurch chasing 151, recovering from 25-5 thanks largely to Chris Clarke’s 75.

The fours played against Horndon who for the vast majority of the decided not to chase the modest 215 on the back pitch.

Eventually, bizarrely, Horndon ended up 205-3 off 49 overs, failing to chase the score whilst only losing 3 wickets.

The fives were unable to prise the final wicket from Hutton to gain victory. Special mentions to Keith Donovan and Ian Jones showing the young’uns how to do it, ending with 4 wickets apiece.

Finally, the HWCC Ladies first eleven were the only side in action on Sunday against Bishops Stortford. Unfortunately they lost falling 12 short in their run chase. A special mention goes to Zoe Quested for her 4 for 16 and 52 with the bat.

Harold Wood Cricket Club in conjunction with Simply Cricket is running a player of the weekend award throughout this season.

Chris Clarke won the award this weekend for his impressive 75 on Saturday. He joins such illustrious names as a winner of the award as Ian Wooding, Anthony McManus and Liam Brooks.