What a year it has been at Upminster Cricket Club. More games played than ever before, with success for our women’s and junior teams, and some excellent cricket played throughout. We also had the Benefit Match with Essex, another successful charity match, two keenly contested Windmill Whack competitions and a number of great social events including a sold-out Dinner and Dance.

The year was also one of deep sadness as two long standing Vice-Presidents of the club passed away. Carole Osborne and Lesley Peters were two members who had been involved with the club for many years and through several different generations, and everyone associated with the club was extremely sad to hear of their passing during July. Both Carole and Lesley will be missed by everyone at Upminster and by many others involved with cricket in the area, as will Jimmy Green, a Vice-President and former player who also sadly passed away in January.

As we take a look back over the year, we must thank all members, colts, colts parents, Vice-Presidents, coaches, volunteers and friends of the club for their support and contribution in 2024. Here are a few of the highlights from the last 12 months:

JANUARY
- Cricket returns for 2024, with our senior and junior sides taking part in indoor league action throughout the month, and winter training for our junior and senior sides taking place at the Club Cricket Academy;
- The 165th AGM of Upminster Cricket Club takes place at the pavilion;
- The club’s first ever Grand Christmas Draw takes place (a little belatedly) with members scooping 100s of excellent prizes and raising valuable funds for the club;

FEBRUARY
- The U11s and U13s both claimed their respective Havering League titles after excellent performances;
- The U11s saw off Belhus in their title decider while the U13s overcame Rainham to seal their top-spot;

MARCH
- It’s the end of an era as the senior men’s side play their last ever competitive indoor fixture with a match in the Riverside Indoor League. The game ends in defeat;
- It was a memorable Finals Weekend for Upminster’s junior sides in the Havering Indoor League;
- Eight Upminster sides took part in the weekend, with six claiming cup final victories (the two defeats were against other Upminster sides);
- In total Upminster’s junior sides claimed 11 winners spots and six runners-up places across the Havering and Central indoor competitions during winter;
- The Hamro Foundation Essex League fixtures are finally announced for 2024, with the 1st XI hosting Epping on the opening day and the 2nd XI making the short trip to face Harold Wood;

APRIL
- Junior and senior outdoor training sessions begin at Upminster Park;
- Match Officials Secretary James Evans organises two excellent umpiring and scoring training evenings at the club;
- The season begins with an “Out of Hibernation” curry night at the Pavilion. More than 50 members attend a brilliant evening;
- Debutant Paige Roche smashes a brilliant unbeaten 155, from just 76 balls, as the Women’s 1st XI breeze part Hutton in the first round of the T20 National Cup;
- The Men’s 1st XI exit the League Cup with a narrow defeat (by DLS) to Old Southendians at Garon Park;

MAY
- The club plays its first ever fixture in the T-Rippon Mid-Essex League fixture, but the Mid-Essex XI lose out to Basildon and Pitsea;
- South African JJ Smuts returns to RM14 for the 2024 season. The all-rounder was a huge hit at Upminster during his previous stint with the club in 2022;
- The Hamro Foundation Essex League season begins with a mixed weekend for the club;
- All of the club’s “odd” numbered sides picked up wins as the 1s, 3s and 5s claim maximum points with Arun Kullar’s century for the 3s being the highlight;
- But all of the club’s “even” sides lose, with the 2nd XI suffering a narrow defeat in their derby encounter at Harold Wood;
- The Mid-Essex XI pick up the club’s first ever win in the T-Rippon League as they overcome Rayleigh Fairview by five wickets;
- The Women’s 1st XI pick up their first league win of 2024 as they beat Harold Wood by five wickets, while the 2nd XI lose at Frenford by 29 runs;
- Draft night for Windmill Whack IX takes place with Hurricanes’ new skipper Michael Jones strengthening his squad in a bid to make it three titles in a row;
- 11 year old William Peck strikes a brilliant 109 from just 70 balls as the U12s beat Shenfield in the Brian Taylor Trophy;
- The 1st XI finish the month with a win over Belhus to move into promotion contention at the top of Division 1;

JUNE
- The first day of the month sees the club field EIGHT Saturday sides as the Friendly XI entertain Ingatestone and Fryerning 3rd XI;
- It’s a disappointing day results wise though, as only the 1st and 2nd XI win, with the other six sides all losing;
- Jason Glensman and Eddie Waters are the stars of the show as the club holds a successful darts night at the pavilion;
- Women’s 1st XI stars Paige Roche, Coco Thomas and Edie Ayliffe are picked to represent the Essex League XI in their T20 contest against the East Anglian Premier League at the County Ground, Chelmsford;
- In a first for Upminster, Sunette Viljoen-Louw is announced as the club’s women’s overseas player for the 2024 season;
- Former Olympic medallist Viljoen-Louw goes straight into the side for the Women’s Hundred double header against Hutton, and makes runs in both games as Upminster pick up two victories;
- Our U11 Girls win the Central Softball Festival before going on to finish in an excellent third place in the County Finals Day;
- The club hosts the second charity match and fun day in aid of the Judy D’Cruz Fund. A huge crowd helps to raise valuable funds and awareness for the charity;
- The fifth edition of the Windmill Whack Women’s Edition begins at Upminster Park as the Apple Finance Phoenix take on the Avengers;
- A brilliant performance from the U15 Girls sees their progress continue in the National Cup as they beat Chelmsford by 19 runs;
- Members take on a series of tasks and challenges as the club hosts a Taskmaster night at the pavilion;
- The Saturday league programme for June finishes with a brilliant six wins from seven matches on the penultimate day of the month;
- Terry Wyatt rolls back the years as the 1st XI overcome Orsett and Thurrock to stay in the promotion race, while youngster Ollie Ward makes his maiden ton but can’t stop 5th XI being the only side defeated;
- A win and a narrow loss for the Women’s 1st XI in their Hundred double-header with Colchester leaves them with a chance of topping the table with one round of matches remaining;
- The Women’s 2nd XI continue their impressive form with a win over Frenford which catapults them into promotion contention;

JULY
- The club’s Ryder Cup style Golf Day takes place at Top Meadow Golf Club with nearly 40 members and guests in attendance;
- It’s a damp start to the month cricket wise as all Saturday and Sunday senior fixtures are washed out;
- The Women’s 1st XI are the biggest losers to the weather, as their double header with bottom of the table Harold Wood in the Hundred is cancelled and ruins Upminster’s chances of topping the table;
- Nathan French strikes a brilliant century as the 6th XI draw with Billericay 5s;
- For the first time in the club’s history our junior sides reach the knockout stages of all three of the major County competitions, as the U12s, U14s and U16s all move through the group stages;
- The U15 Girls move through to the regional semi-final of the National Cup as they beat Ealing by 28 runs at Upminster Park;
- Saturday 20th July is an excellent day for the club with the first four senior sides all picking up valuable victories;
- JJ Smuts stars for the 1st XI with a masterful unbeaten 148 followed by 4-35 with the ball;
- Gus Siggins and Andrew Berry starred for the 2nd XI as they beat Shenfield, Arun Kullar made another ton as the 3s beat leaders West Essex and a fine team performance helped the 4th XI overcome Hadleigh;
- The U12s put in an impressive performance to beat a strong Frenford side in the Brian Taylor Trophy and move through to the last eight of the competition;
- The club confirm that they will once again host a Benefit Match against an Essex CCC XI, with the County side set to come to RM14 on Sunday 15th September;
- The 1st XI finish the month with an excellent performance against promotion chasing Billericay, but Ricay manage to grimly hold out for a draw;
- The Women’s 1st XI also finish July in style, with 88 from Sunette Viljoen-Louw helping them to a 102 run win over Wanstead and Snaresbrook;
- The U15 Girls’ run in the National Cup finally comes to an end when they are beaten by a strong Richmond side;
- Despite three defeats from three games, the Lower XI tour of Worcestershire is great fun and a huge success once again;

AUGUST
- The 1st XI starts the month with a win over Ilford which keeps them very much in the promotion race. JJ Smuts stars with bat and ball once again;
- The 2nd XI’s title showdown with Wanstead ends in a draw at Upminster Park, but the home side have the better of things and pick up 11 points;
- Sam Twine makes a brilliant 103 for the 4th XI as they have the better of a draw with runaway leaders Chingford 3s;
- Chair of Selectors, Matt Burch, caps a rare playing appearance with a wonderful hundred, but the 6s lose out to Orsett and Thurrock 5s;
- The Mid-Essex XI produce an inspired performance to overcome high-flying Hatfield Peverel and boost their chances of survival;
- Callum Berry and Jeevan Singh make half centuries as the 1st XI inflict a first defeat of the season on top of the table Fives and Heronians;
- Another superb effort from the Mid-Essex XI sees them beat promotion chasing Chignal and move to within touching distance of safety;
- Oakfield Parkonians prove just too strong for our U12s as they beat Upminster in the Brian Taylor Trophy quarter-final at Upminster Park;
- “Super Sunday” for our junior sides sadly ends in two quarter final defeats as the U16s lose the Matcplay semi-final to Wanstead and the U14s narrowly miss out in their Sir Alastair Cook Trophy quarter-final against Chingford;
- Despite the wet weather, the U11s and U12s tour sees four matches take place (some rain affected) and lots of memories made on the North Devon coast;
- UCC gets into the Paris 2024 spirit as the Mini Olympics event takes place at the club;
- Sunette Viljoen-Louw signs off for the summer with a quite amazing knock of 207 not out against Colchester and East Essex. This helps the Women’s 1st XI to a win over the newly crowned champions and secures a superb second place finish for Upminster in the top division of Essex Women’s cricket;
- A damp but brilliant night for the U11 boys and girls at the County Ground, Chelmsford as they take part in the Mini Matchplay event under the floodlights with both sides winning all but one of their games;
- The wet summer continues as the whole Saturday league programme is washed out on the 24th August. This is good news for the 2nd and Mid-Essex XIs (who are confirmed as safe) but not so good for the 1st and 3rd XIs;
- Our U11 Girls side get to meet a Knight of the Realm as they take part in the Rock Up For Randall event at Maldon CC, and Sir Alastair Cook is on hand for the presentations;
- The Women’s 2nd XI beat East Anglian Veterans, who include 83 year old Enid Bakewell MBE in their side, to secure top-spot in Division 3 and gain promotion to Division 2 for 2025;
- Mo Ahmad makes 57 as the 1st XI beat Springfield to take their promotion challenge to the final day, while the 2nd XI do enough to beat Ilford and remain in control of the Premier Division title race;
- The 3rd XI win a thrilling game against Harlow by just four runs and take their own title challenge to the final Saturday, while the 4th XI are well beaten by newly crowned champions Chingford;
- There is a loss for the 5th XI against Oakfield Parkonians but the 6th XI secure their survival with a brilliant win at Hadleigh where Will Court and Harry Bradford produce an unbroken stand of 115;
- The season ends in defeat for the Mid-Essex XI as they close off 2024 with a loss to Hornchurch Athletic;

SEPTEMBER
- September 1st is a memorable day at Upminster Park as the club hosts one of the Central Board Junior Finals Days and two Upminster sides pick up trophies;
- The U12s squeeze home against Brentwood with two balls to spare thanks to Billy Sheridan’s 35 not out before Gus Siggins, Zoran Suneel and Jamie Green help the U17s to overcome Harold Wood in the dusk;
- Meanwhile just five miles down the road at Hutton, the U15 Girls were overcoming the hosts by seven wickets in their Cup Final to secure a Central League and Cup Double;
- It’s last day heartache for a number of the club’s senior sides as a brilliant season ends in frustration and disappointment;
- The 1st XI race to victory over Ilford at Upminster Park, but Billericay beat Gidea Park and Romford to leave Pulkit Gupta’s side in third position, despite only losing one league game all season;
- A first Premier Division title alludes the 2nd XI as Wanstead and Snaresbrook win a tense title shootout by three wickets at Overton Drive;
- The 3rd XI’s hopes of a fourth title in six seasons are dashed as they lose heavily at Harold Wood who end the day as champions themselves;
- The 4th XI beat Orsett and Thurrock 3s to end the season in fifth place, the 5th XI lose out to Chingford 4s to finish in seventh and the 6th XI lose out to Billericay 5s to complete the season in eighth;
- The gloom is lifted the following day by the U11s who overcome the absence of three county players to beat Springfield at Central Finals Day and complete the Central Board Treble;
- There is heartache for the U15s on the adjacent pitch though as they lose out to Harold Wood by just four runs;
- It all means that our junior section finish the summer season with FOURTEEN league and cup successes to their name, alongside side four runners-up spots;
- It’s a second Windmill Whack title for the Apple Finance Firebirds as they beat the Elite Eagles in the final of WW IX, with Finals Day unfortunately disrupted by the wet weather;
- The weather holds, and a large crowd is once again in attendance for the 24th Annual Benefit Match against an Essex CCC XI;
- The day begins with minis training on the outfield before the Burley Bandits finally claim their first Windmill Whack Women’s Edition title as they beat the Apple Finance Phoenix by five runs in a brilliant contest;
- The warm-up for the main event is provided by the U11s who take on a local representative side before Aaron Beard wins the toss for the Essex CCC XI and elects to bat first;
- Sam Cook makes 54 not out for the County side but there are wickets for Lois Gable, Zoe Quested, Mark Schofield and Max Carter-Miller as Essex make 202-4;
- “Half-time” entertainment is provided on the outfield by the U9s before the home side begin their pursuit of the target;
- Callum Berry makes a brilliant 100 not out from 44 balls (only the second by an Upminster player in the history of the fixture) before retiring and leaving James Evans and Kiran Kullar to take Upminster to a famous seven wicket win;

OCTOBER
- The club’s newly formed football side play their first ever fixture against near neighbours Hornchurch CC at Brentwood FC’s ground;
- An end-to-end contest ends in a 4-3 win for Hornchurch, with former UCC star Billy Gordon grabbing the second half winner;
- A brilliant evening is enjoyed by more than a 100 members and guests as the Annual Dinner and Dance takes place at the Stifford Hall Hotel;
- Karen Burley and her team arranged a brilliant event and the club’s Annual Award winners were also named at the evening;
- Sinead Taylor is named as the Keith Martin Club Person of the Year winner, while Patrick Gulvin claims the Gwynne Mack Spirit of Cricket Award;
- With the summer season having finished just three weeks before, the indoor season begins for many of our junior sides in the Central Board competitions;
- The Women’s Indoor side also begin their season in Division One of the Chelmsford League, and while they lose out to Old Chelmsfordians and Wanstead they come back well to close the month with a win over Great Waltham;
- The club’s Autumn Golf Day takes place at Upminster Golf Club;

NOVEMBER
- The UCC football team return to action as they take on Brentwood CC in a game played in aid of Saint Francis Hospice and the Brain Tumour Charity;
- Upminster win the game 2-1, but most importantly valuable funds and awareness are raised for both charities;
- Former overseas star Beau Webster is called up to the Australian squad for their second test match against India in Adelaide;

DECEMBER
- A member’s forum takes place at the Pavilion ahead of the club’s AGM in January 2025;
- The club’s Annual Curry Lunch takes place at Windmill Whack franchise sponsors, the Kushoom Bugh. 36 awards are presented to the individual winners from each of the club’s nine senior playing sides;
- The cricket action for 2024 concludes with a win as the Women’s Indoor side overcome Hutton by 51 runs in the Chelmsford League;

The IT, social media and press team would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone for their help and support during 2024 and wish everyone at Upminster CC and all those involved in local cricket, a healthy, prosperous and sunny 2025.