Five wins from seven league games made it the best Saturday of the season so far for the club, with only the 5th XI and Mid-Essex XI saving Chairman of Selectors Matt Burch from an expensive evening at the bar!!  It was also an afternoon which showcased the ability and depth of the club's crop of young players, as well as demonstrating that class is permanent, with a number of veterans putting in match winning performances in several games.

One such performance came from Terry Wyatt, who played an innings at Upminster Park which seemed like a weekly occurrence 15 years ago.  Chasing 196 to win and stay in the promotion race, Upminster had fallen to 86-5 despite a hard hit 43 from captain JJ Smuts.  At this stage Orsett and Thurrock looked like favourites, but Wyatt combined with Kiran Kullar to get Upminster back in the game.  Kullar made a gritty 42 while Wyatt found the boundary regularly as the pair put on 63 for the sixth wicket.  Wyatt brought up his half century shortly after Kullar had fallen, and found another willing partner in Shafiq Rahman.  The two men calmly saw Upminster to the finishing line with Wyatt ending on a brilliant 76 not out and Rahman finishing unbeaten on 15.  Earlier in the day Nehal Butt had bowled superbly to pick up 4-40 to keep the Orsett innings in check.  Manoj Sarathchandra made 69 from 58 balls for the visitors, but with Smuts claiming 2-39 from 16 overs Orsett had been bowled out for 195.

While the 5th XI were one of only two sides not to win, their game with Loughton 4s contained a brilliant maiden century for Ollie Ward.  Stewart Hammond and Avanish Ajmani had given Upminster a solid start, but a cluster of wickets had seen them fall to 103-5.  Ward remained calm though and began to rebuild the innings, with the help of Ollie Hinton.  Ward passed 50 as their sixth wicket stand neared three figures, and the pair then began to accelerate with the Loughton bowlers beginning to tire.  Hinton reached his half century as Upminster moved towards a big score and Ward then brought up his first ever ton, from 107 balls, an innings which included 17 boundaries.  Hinton ended unbeaten on 59 as Upminster declared two overs early on 263-5.  Loughton made a solid start in reply, with their top four all passing 20, but Kevin Roome, Fin Tolan and Ollie Burley all struck twice to peg back the home side  However, it was not enough to force a victory as Loughton batted out for the draw at 202-6.

There was a thrilling one wicket win for the 2nd XI as they overcame Chelmsford at Chelmer Park.  It was two veterans who did the damage with the ball for Upminster as John Curtis (3-64) and Ollie Peck (5-63) worked their way through the Chelmsford batting line up.  Mohammed Baig made an unbeaten half century for the home side, while former South African test star Andre Nel made 40 as Chelmsford closed on 228-9.  Tom Daniels, back in the side after a three week absence, made an excellent 62 at the top of the Upminster innings, and with Harry Jenkins (34) and Aki Rahman (25) continuing their recent good form Upminster looked in a good position at 131-1.  Jack Parrish and Matthew Cook then turned the game on its head with four wickets each to leave Upminster looking at defeat as they fell to 172-9.  Peck had not given up the fight though and began to find the boundary as the total passed 200 and the runs required began to drop sharply.  Another flurry of boundaries followed as Peck reached his half century, and with Joshan Narbheram remaining calm at the other end Upminster secured a one wicket win with five balls to spare, Peck ending on 56 not out.

The 3rd XI continued their recent return to good form with a two wicket win over Woodford Wells at Coopers.  Mark D'Cruz and Tom Young picked up an early wicket each to put Upminster on top but Ralph Dorey and Ben Munson began to rebuild.  Munson fell to veteran Bobby Mack for 41 and Mack then began to work his way through the Wells middle order with a fine spell.  Dorey brought up a fine century before Mack dismissed him for 108 and Young (3-42) sent back dangerman Mark Webb for 15.  Mack ended with figures of 6-78 from a marathon 15 over spell as Wells were dismissed for 227.  Steve Limn (26) and Sunette Viljoen (39) both got starts in Upminster's reply but 4-68 from Christian Hall put Wells on top.  Mack and Alex Ward then combined to get Upminster back in the game with Ward making 49 and Mack 45, before Stan Moore made 32 as the home side closed in on victory.  Ryan Oakes and D'Cruz were then there at the end as Upminster won by two wickets.

There was an excellent win for the 4th XI as they overcame Orsett and Thurrock 3s.  Orsett batted steadily throughout their innings and despite 2-30 from veteran Andrew Berry and an excellent 15 over spell from Nathan Brown the home side were able to reach a competitive 215-7.  Upminster slipped to 62-3 in reply but Sam Twine and Fenton Everingham began the rebuild with an excellent fourth wicket stand of 133.  Everingham fell just one short of a deserved half century, but Twine continued the charge towards victory.  With the finishing line in sight Twine joined Everingham in avoiding further expense at the bar when falling for a brilliant 96, but Joseph Brooks and Ben Hamberger saw Upminster to a five wicket win.

The 6th XI made it two wins in two weeks with an excellent all round performance to beat Wickford 4s at Campion.  The Upminster innings was built around a brilliant knock of 70 from 14 year old WIll Court.  Court hit 9 boundaries in his 72 ball knock and with Thomas Brabin making 43 Upminster were able to make a good total of 211 despite 6-39 from Wickford's Baig.  Dean Windeatt (49) then helped Wickford to reach 113-4, but when he was removed by Brabin Upminster took control.  Harry Coles returned to the Upminster attack and ran through the Wickford lower order with a brilliant spell to take his side towards victory.  Coles finished with 4-26 as Wickford were bowled out for 131 and Ray Calder's side moved out of the relegation zone.

There was a defeat for the Mid-Essex XI as they lost out to Hornchurch Athletic 4s in their derby clash at Raphaels Park.  3-27 from veteran Karim Govani helped to reduce Athletic to 75-4, but Parr and Duke countered for the home side in some style.  They put on 117 for the fifth wicket with Duke making 93 and Parr a brilliant 116.  Dylan Narbheram claimed 2-53 for Upminster but with Kershaw adding late runs Athletic were able to reach a commanding 293-7.  Upminster's reply started well with 59 from Arron Applegate and 45 from Paul Burley, but with the run rate climbing wickets began to fall.  Lewis Munn batted well for an unbeaten 26 but Upminster were bowled out for 188.