CHELMSFORD’S Saturday side managed to squeeze promotion to the Shepherd Neame Essex League Premier Division. But things were bleaker in the Sunday firsts camp where they were looking at relegation in the Spa Tec Essex Sunday League.

The games settled it and both teams are on the move.

The first team were the only side to get a game in on Saturday.

With Hornchurch 2 points ahead, a win batting first for Chelmsford compared to a win batting second for Hornchurch would be enough to close the gap. Although they couldn’t have known at the outset, this was what happened.

Some fine attacking play from Kamran Ali, Matt Thurston and Neil Fergus saw Chelmsford achieve a decent score after a sticky patch. Basildon & Pitsea gave a strong chase but the bowling of Mark Drain and Kamran Ali gained Chelmsford a 22 run win.

This ninth win from the final ten matches meant Chelmsford and Hornchurch finished level on points. The tiebreaker is the number of wins and Chelmsford edged that 10 to 9.

The second team match against Fives & Heronians was abandoned without a ball bowled. They end the season in a slightly disappointing sixth place after a weak second half.

The third team battled for about an hour to play against a keen Upminster side. With Upminster around 40 for three and utterly miserable weather sweeping in and out, both teams agreed to call it a day. This had the benefit of allowing a sizeable Chelmsford contingent to support the first team at Basildon.

A second abandonment of the season meant the fourth team closed the season with 16 wins and 313 points. Next year they face the challenge of the Third XI Division 2.

Neither the fifth team nor the sixth team games started.

Sunday’s bad weather ended the hopes for the Sunday first team. Their game against Waltham was called off and that means relegation. A young team need to learn the lessons from failure but they certainly have the talent to bounce back and improve.

The under-15 Central Essex District Cricket Board Cup Final between Chelmsford and Bentley was another victim of the weather. The Sunday seconds did play though, having the better of a draw. Chelmsford scored 163 for nine thanks to a last wicket partnership of 48. Some good bowling had Little Baddow reeling but they held out at 98 for nine.

SN Essex League Division 1 Chelmsford 184-8 Basildon & Pitsea 162 all out CHELMSFORD won this crucial encounter by 22 runs.

Chelmsford arrived at a very wet Basildon for a make or break match for both sides. Basildon needed points to guarantee staying in the first division and revised league tables received the day before showed that Chelmsford could pip rivals Hornchurch for promotion if they won batting first even if Hornchurch won at Wickford batting second. Kamran Ali came to the wicket and with a mixture of watchfulness and controlled aggression moved the score to 57 before Jones was caught for 34.

Two wickets followed quickly but Ali and Matt Thurston re-established control and took the score to 135. Thurston, returning from injury played a succession of good shots to help move the score towards a defendable total. Ali was dismissed for a high quality 55 and the innings closed on what looked like a challenging target of 184. Abbas was the pick of the attack, taking four for 65.

Basildon were determined to sign off with a win and set off in pursuit, Drain slowed things down by inducing an edge from the aggressive Blerkom to the safe hands of Jones.

Alam and Gray steadily moved things forward to 53 but the introduction of Ali’s spin saw two quick wickets and Chelmsford looked to be on top with plenty of overs to bowl.

However the wicket was now flattening out and Manikoth and Noble steadily moved the score to 113. The pressure was now on Basildon and Chelmsford kept chipping away.

Chelmsford now surrounded the bat with a maximum of 6 overs to get the priceless last wicket. With 3 overs left the irresistible Ali had the last man smartly stumped by Wicketkeeper Chris Prowting and Ali (5-35) was immediately overwhelmed by his celebrating team-mates.

Now top flight status had been regained after an eight year wait, and club members are overjoyed.

Chelmsford 2nds 163-9 Little Baddow 98-9 CHELMSFORD weren’t quite able to force a win in a shortened game at a wet Little Baddow.

The home side were very keen to play and their opening bowlers made things difficult. In spite of accurate bowling, Chelmsford got a solid foundation but frittered it away. Former Chelmsford player, Peter Marshall (3-20) blasted through the middle order.

With rebuilding necessary, the batsmen decided to give their wickets away and there were some appalling shots. James Arnold (38) had played securely until inexplicably missing one. Most culpable was Craig Thompson who contrived to tap a slow full toss to a fielder.

At 115 for nine it looked like an embarrassingly low score was on the cards but the experienced pair of Keith Goodman and Alistair Fergus put together a useful and pragmatic partnership. Little Baddow were unable to force a breakthrough and Chelmsford had the luxury of declaring at 163.

Thompson’s opening burst really put the skids under the home side who lost three early wickets. Anthony Holland was also bowling nicely although the Bucknell’s, Stuart (25) and Malcolm (29) landed some big blows. Both fell victim to Holland (3-40) the first from his bowling, the second a well judged boundary catch.

The leg spin pairing of Halsey (2-29) and Jason Bolton (2-11) made further inroads to make it nine down. The last pair had a few alarms but hung in for a draw.