The RM14 area missed the worst of the wet weather on Saturday afternoon, and the 3rd XI took full advantage to move into pole position in the race for the Premier Division title.  Captain Dan Simpson continued his fine season with a wonderful 95 against Chelmsford at Coopers School.  He combined with Rob Healy (39) to put Upminster into a solid position before Alex Ward's brief knock decisively swung the game Upminster's way.  Ward's innings only lasted 28 balls, but ten of them were struck for four and five were hit for maximums as the in-form keeper made 78.  All that enabled Upminster to reach 254-6.  There was a brief interruption for rain at the start of the Chelmsford innings, but when the players returned Ed Cole reached his half century to keep his side in the game.  However, just two balls later he was spectacularly caught by Rob Mack at mid-off and from that point Upminster were in control.  Shrey Shah claimed three wickets to push Upminster close to victory and Jamie Green finished things off with 3-23 to give Upminster a win by 86 runs.  With Harlow's game at Ilford falling victim to the weather Upminster will travel to Woodford Wells on Saturday knowing a win will give them their third title in six years.

The 2nd XI's title bid came to an end thanks to a quite astonishing innings from Woodford Wells' Harry Boparai at Upminster Park.  Upminster's innings was given a spectacular start of its own by Josh Lamont.  He struck 85 from 38 balls, including six maximums, but Upminster had a mid-innings wobble and were pegged back by Wells.  Captain Nicky Ison made a fluent half century and Terry Wyatt and Scott Fisher both made useful contributions, but Upminster will have felt their total of 256 was a little under par.  However, nobody would have predicted what would happen next.  Boparai found the boundary twice in the opening over of the innings and never looked back.  He reached his half century in just the seventh over and when fellow opener Harry Neicho was out for 16 Wells had reached 115-1.  Boparai then upped the pace further, striking 16 boundaries and 18 maximums before eventually being dismissed by Nicky Ison for 190, made from just 67 balls!!!  Wells sealed victory by eight wickets with more than 25 overs to spare.  Upminster will face Ilford in their final game of the season knowing they will need a win to have any chance of sealing the runners-up spot. 

Not for the first time this season the 1st XI were left frustrated by the weather, as their game with Ilford at Valentines Park was abandoned due to the rain. Pulkit Gupta (26) and Aaron Beard (43) put on 74 for the first wicket as Upminster started well, but once they both fell the innings stalled somewhat.  Solid contributions from Adam Wheater, James Evans and Kiran Kullar kept Upminster in the game, and a total of 184 looked a competitive one on a sporting wicket.  Beard then removed opener Anil and Ilford had reached 24-1 when the rain came.

The 4th XI lost out in a high scoring local derby at Hornchurch 3s.  Hornchurch piled up 333-8 from their 45 overs to leave Upminster with a challenging chase.  Matt Ingleson took on the challenge though and kept his side in the game.  The opener reached three figures for the first time at this level and went on to finish unbeaten on 121 but Upminster fell short and ended on 257-7.

There were runs for Alex Bottoms and Avanish Ajmani at Campion, but it was not enough to stop the 5th XI losing out to West Essex 4s. Karim Govani, with a rare appearance at the top of the innings, made 24, before Bottoms and Ajmani took control.  Bottoms made 84 not out from 96 balls and Ajmani made an unbeaten 79 from 83 deliveries as Upminster reached 224-3.  That total looked a more than competitive one but Haider Zaman had other ideas, making 106 from 78 deliveries before being dismissed by Craig Grote.  Zaman had good support from James Dawe (55) as West won by eight wickets with 11 overs in hand.

The 6th XI lost out to Hornchurch 5s in a rain affected local derby at Coopers.  Captain Ray Calder continued his fine season with 62 and there were good contributions from Joseph Hibell and Thomas Brabin as Calder's side closed on 203-4.  Don Triggs picked up two wickets for Upminster as they started well with the ball, but the rain came and 14 overs were lost.  Hornchurch skipper Graeme Farquhar made a quickfire 63 for his side, and that meant his side reached their revised target to win by five wickets.