Harlow 152 all out lost to Ongar 153-7 by 3 wkts

Ongar had middle order batsman Robert Walker to thank on Saturday as he kept a cool head to shepherd his team to victory by three wickets and make it an unbeaten July.

Harlow had started well enough with the bat, putting on 32 for the first wicket before the Ongar bowlers found their groove.

A calamitous collapse quickly reduced them to 62-7 with Adam Williams causing most of the damage with a spell of 4-50 as part of a fighting bowling display.

A stand of 65 between Richard Ayrton, who hit 38, and Graham Aspinall with 45, made the score a little more respectable, although on a pitch that favoured batting it was a below par effort.

But their partnership provided some hope for the Harlow bowlers who were given the task of protecting 152.

That total was never going to be easy to defend but Harlow did at least make their visitors work hard for victory.

At one stage Ongar were reduced to 64-4 and Harlow had an outside chance of stealing the game.

But a stand of 52 between Robert Walker and Adam Williams proved to be the decisive partnership and they re-established Ongar's grip on the game.

Both players took the attack to Harlow, dispatching anything loose with ruthless efficiency.

Walker went on to hit an unbeaten 55 to see his side home to a deserved victory.

Paul Mayhew bowled with aggression to claim 3-37 and Graham Aspinall was the other main contributor with 2-27, but the damage had already been done by the Ongar bowlers in restricting Harlow to such a small total on a perfect pitch.

Having struggled during the rain-affected early season Ongar have now gone five matches undefeated and are functioning well as a team.

q Ongar second elevens were beaten by seven wickets by Harlow after they had posted a total of 195 in which Dean Humphrey hit 64.

Mick Doyle struck 93 for Harlow in reply as they cruised home.. Ongar thirds also won -- beating Old Parkonians by four wickets.~

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