Old Parkonians completed a magnificent seven at the weekend as all senior sides completed victories.

The feat started on Saturday as all four SNEL XI’s won, whilst the 5th XI and then two Sunday XI’s won their friendly matches.

Parks 1st XI nearly came unstuck against Epping at Oakfield in SNEL Division Three on Saturday but finally got over the line to claim a tense one victory win.

The visitors scored 202 all out and at 100-6 the situation was looking bleak for the old boys. James Swash then scored a classy 89 as he and Garfield Mitchell lead the revival. However, left-arm seamer Dan Majeed (5-58) came back to remove Swash with an excellent slower ball and with two further quick wickets falling Parks were suddenly 198-9.

Keeper Tony Small then hit a straight driven four and nudged a two behind square off Dave Bickley between last man Shahzad Ahmad blocking six balls from Majeed to see Parks to the one wicket victory which lifts Bobby Curtis’s men into 5th position, still no where near the promotion picture unfortunately.

The 2nd XI, however, have an excellent shout for promotion and too completed a win over Epping at Lower Bury Lane. Having restricted their hosts to 202-8 declared, Parks then calmly knocked off the runs for the loss of 6 wickets to score a four wicket win and retain fourth place in Division Three, only 16 points off the promotion slots. A big test for Parks this week as leaders Hadleigh visit Oakfield – a must win for Parks if Nick Thorpe’s side are to go up.

The threes completed a comfortable victory over woeful Epping at Coopersale to move into third place in Division Three. Parks bowled out their hosts for just 145 with Karuna and Gajan Raveendran (who was on a hat-trick) taking three wickets each and after a quick fire start from Karuna with the bat (22), Alan Bouquet and Jamie Porter then both smashed their way to 55 not out a piece to win by 5:30pm and with nine wickets still in the bag. Parks entertain Benfleet this weekend and must win to keep a pace with Wanstead and Brentwood 4’s.

Jim Martin’s 4th XI then scored an even more convincing win by trouncing Upminster 6th XI at Oakfield in Division West. Shankar Manicks (5-26) and Jim Gambleton (5-42) both bowled beautifully with the new ball to dismiss the visitors between them for just 73 then knocked off the runs losing four wickets in the process for a six wicket victory. The team stay 2nd but are 26 points adrift of Harold Wood who they visit next weekend. This weekend sees a trip to bottom club Harlow.

Parks 5th XI won their first match of the season against South Loughton threes at Frenford. Having scored 157-8 declared thanks to an unbeaten 42 from captain Tony Keen, Parks then bowled out their visitors for just 57 to complete a 100 run win. SL were 15-1 at one stage but then collapsed to 15-5! Mr Keen continued his excellent game with remarkable figures of 1.3-1-0-3, whilst Liam Lee took 6-2-12-3 and Jabba (Jprakash Sivarajah) 6-3-3-2! Opening bat Vinnie Barton also performed well with 24.

And to finish the weekend off, both Parks Sunday XI’s won against Potter Street and Church Langley. The A side bowled out Potter Street for 195 at Oakfield and thanks to Bobby Curtis (76 not out) and Shahid Khan’s maiden Parks fifty (62) Parks scored an eight wicket win.

In the B game at Potter Street, Sagar Patel’s second consecutive half century (62) saw Parks reach 188 all out, Izzy Daulatzai chipping in with 40. Gajan Raveendran then left off from Saturday in taking 4-40 as Potter Street fell to 120 all out, Parks winning by 68 runs.