Cricket returned to Hackney Marshes at the weekend with a series of tense encounters in the North East London Cricket League, having fallen victim to the weather the week before.

On a sticky wicket, London Fields set Bloody Lads CC a target of 220, and economic bowling from Troy Utz and Paul Turley ensured that the run chase began slowly.

With the required run rate increasing, the Lads went in search of victory, but fell 31 runs short, as Dave Miller picked up figures of 4/21 for Fields.

A similarly close contest was played out between Royal Sovereign and Clapton & Oval. Excellent fielding from Clapton saw eight of Sovereign’s batsmen caught out in their innings of 158, but on a slow pitch that made scoring difficult, Nick Franks (35) and Mark Stephney (54) posted competitive totals. Kaspar Pedersen and Kerry Tyrrell were the pick of the Clapton bowlers, taking three wickets apiece.

Franks and Stephney were equally as adept with the ball, as the pair took figures of 3-12 and 2-14 respectively to put Clapton on the back foot, but their middle order offered signs of a recovery.

Tyrell (40) and Ishmail (38) were largely responsible for this, but Dennis Fanaus’s lethal spell of bowling saw him take three quick wickets to leave Clapton nine runs short.

Baring Up CC tasted victory for the first time this season, as they defeated Tower Hamlets by 52 runs. Baring initially struggled with the low wicket and tight Hamlets bowling during their innings, but Mitch Greenham’s 79 not out, coupled with a quick-fire 39 from Matt Wark, carried the side to 193 from their allocated overs.

Despite being ahead of the run rate, Tower Hamlets regularly lost wickets in their response as Josh Burke (2-18) left them still searching for their first win of the new campaign.

Elsewhere, United Sanjan CC triumphed over Renaissance Youths – despite getting off to the worst possible start.

Two wickets down from the first over, Sanjan were 89 for six before a captain’s innings from Abulkasim Nalla (57) alongside Mashrur Shaikh (43) turned the tide in their favour, as they finished on 201-9 after 40 overs.

Following a strong start in reply, Renaissance lost rhythm after key batsman Aizaz Manjra was run out, and they were eventually bowled out for 183 in the final over.