A soggy weekend for many but with many matches abandoned, including our 4th XI visit to Brentwood, it was good to see some cricket played through the age groups even if many games had to be called early.
Our First XI hosted Goresbrook and having been put into bat saw Sachin Vaja and Frankie Hazel star with scores of 68 and 66 respectively. Backed up with a 46 from Ubaid Kiani, Park posted a decent 219 for 5 off the allotted 40 overs despite Kane Messenger knocking out four of the wickets.
As conditions worsened, the visitors were set a target of 110 in 20 overs and despite some cracking bowling from Omar Ayaz (4 overs, 3 wickets for 19) and Aditya Kumar (2 for 22 off 4) the away team managed to reach their winning score in a ball shy of the allotted. The feeling was that Park would have prevailed in a full over game but Mother Nature and the vagaries of cricket scoring were the vistors.
The Second XI went on their travels to Colchester and elected to bat after winning the toss.
Adam McKie stood out with a solid 61, supported ably by Pete Collier's 35, Phil Walker (29) and Alex Toft (21 not out). The total of 187 for 6 looked a tight one for the home side but despite three players taking a couple of wickets apiece (Jack Roberts, Nirbhay Bist and Krishnan Kumar) the home side reached the target with just four bowls to spare - Keir Young holding an otherwise average score together with a personal 95.
Park's second home game of the weekend saw the Third XI host local rivals Hornchurch in what turned into another shortened game.
Jason O'Byrne kept the middle order afloat with a half-century whilst both Mark Hope (opening with 23) and James Griffin (in at 9, holding firm with 20 not out) were other notable scores in a total of 169.
In reply and under a time limit ruling, despite a tidy spell from Dushyant Joshi (four overs for just nine runs) a couple of wickets from captain Greg Hammond and one from Paul Sath, the visitors reached 105 for 3 off the 20 overs, proving victorious by seven wickets.
With the Fourth XI game abandoned and out Under-19 side defeated against Loughton a few days before, this was a frustrating weekend for Park. here's hoping for better weather and a turnaround in results this weekend!