Upminster CC 1st XI 279-8
Orsett & Thurrock CC 1st XI 203-10
By Bill West
UPMINSTER beat Orsett & Thurrock by a comfortable margin of 76 runs at Upminster Park.
The hosts won the toss and chose to bat first. Openers Shahbaz Butt (61) and Shafiq Rahman (50) got to the innings off to a great start and there was some useful hitting in the middle order from Harry Jenkins (31) and Louis Pickering (44) as an imposing total of 279 was reached. Shahid Khan stood out for the visitors with 4-53 from his ten overs.
Skipper Paul Bennett scored his second half century in a row for Orsett & Thurrock as he made 77. But unfortunately apart from Will Gibbon and George Pavitt who both made 30, none of the other batsmen contributed significantly as the away side in the end fell easily short of the target by 76 runs.
