Shahid Saeed

Colchester & East Essex 193 all out beat Wanstead 185 all out by eight runs

Wanstead skipper Arfan Akram believes his side lacked a killer edge with the bat as the team slipped to their first loss of the season in the Shepherd Neame Premier Division at Colchester & East Essex.

It was a close run thing throughout with 16 of the 20 wickets falling to spin, with Akram initially delighted with his side’s bowling performance.

“I thought we did well to restrict Colchester to 193,” said Akram.

“Whatever total you are chasing you need one of your top five batsmen to hit a 60 or 70 and we just didn’t do that.

“We bat all the way down and before now the tail has helped us get over the line, but it wasn’t the case on the day.

“It’s our first loss of the season, we knew it was going to happen at some point.”

Mohammed Fayyaz Khan was their main predator with the ball as he took 6-45 from 14.1 overs to help dismiss Colchester for 193, who saw opener Julian Russell and Sam Foster reach 55 with the bat.

Despite the early dismissal of Akram for a single, Rehan Hassan (34), Petrus Hattingh (39) and Shahid Saeed (35) all made contributions without going on to reach a half-century.

And the last two batsmen Fayyaz Khan and Adam Lord were dismissed without scoring as they fell eight runs short.

But Wanstead returned to winning ways on Sunday as they reached the last eight of the Conference Cup after defeating Richmond by 34 runs.

“We were short of our strongest team, but all the boys that came in performed wonderfully to get us through to the last eight,” added Akram.

They will now face fellow league side Brentwood in the quarter- finals on July 15.

This weekend is a vital one for Wanstead, as they play third-placed South Woodford in the league on Saturday and then on Sunday host Tunbridge Wells in the fifth round of the National Club Championship.