May 21, 2001 17:45: West Essex CC 229/7

Harlow CC 127/7

(West Essex CC winning draw)

Harlow struggled for the second week in a row, but showed some late resilience to draw with West Essex on Saturday.

Put in to bat first, West Essex chose the arial route as they cleared the short square boundaries an amazing 15 times in their innings, totalling 229/7 declared, off 52 overs.

Although wickets fell at regular intervals, Harlow never gained any control as five of the top seven batters passed 30.

Again, the two spinners Jed Hill and Niraj Odedra were the pick of the bowlers, with three wickets a piece, but they came in for the most punishment, with Odedra going for 91 in his 19 overs.

Chasing an unlikely 230 to win, Harlow got off to the worst start imaginable, losing both Terry Rist and Nilesh Odedra in the second over off their innings.

Mark Green and Niraj Odedra steadied the ship, but any chance of victory was always slim without a contribution from the openers.

Another flurry of wickets left Harlow seven down with 10 overs left, but Simon Baulcomb and Chris Lawless were able to play out for a draw in worsening conditions without any further scares, Baulcomb finishing with an undefeated 59.

Harlow remain in mid-table after two weeks, but there is plenty of work to be done over the next few games as they try to find their feet in the higher division.

In their game against West Essex, the 2nd XI declared at 227/4 while West Essex finished on 175/6, but a dominating century from Duncan Mackenzie gave Harlow much the better of a draw against a West Essex side who showed no ambition on Saturday.

Batting first, Harlow reached 228/4 dec on the back of Mackenzie's 129. He put on 40 for the first wicket with Ken Aldred and 130 for the second wicket with Alan Burton, who finished with 57 not out.

At 105/1 with 20 overs left, the visitors had a real chance to force a win, but chose to settle for a draw instead, only scoring 70 runs in the last hour, finishing on 175/6 at the close.

Scott Baker repeated his excellent form of the previous week with 2/49 in 22 overs of left arm spin.

Mark Gatland also picked up two wickets. Harlow picked up 10 points and are third after two weeks.

The 3rd XI declared at 198/8 against Shenfield's 147/9 with the game ending in a draw. Batting first, Harlow amassed their runs quicky, with Paul Rist scoring 70 & Richard Ayrton's 42 being the pick of the knocks.