Zahid Habid, who removed all the top five Hawks batsmen in Saturdays win

Hawks IIs 54 all out lost to Goodmayes & Blythswood 55-5 by five wickets

Goodmayes & Blythswood continued their surge up the Essex County Cricket League Division One table after they skittled out Hawks seconds for just 54 on Saturday.

Hawks IIs 54 all out lost to Goodmayes & Blythswood 55-5 by five wickets

Goodmayes & Blythswood continued their surge up the Essex County Cricket League Division One table after they skittled out Hawks seconds for just 54 on Saturday.

Zahid Habib was the star of the show as he dismissed the first five Hawks batsmen – with none of the quintet able to reach double figures.

Skipper Akila Jayamaha won the all-important toss and put the visitors into bat at Goodmayes Park and then watched the wickets tumble as Habib was unplayable.

The win lifted Goodmayes into third place in the table – 17 points behind Goresbrook seconds, who fill the second promotion place and it’s hard to believe that Jayamaha’s side were bottom of the table less than a month ago.

In the end, Hawks were dismissed in 20.3 overs as Habib returned the remarkable figures of 5-13 from his eight-over spell – three of which were maidens.

He was given great support from fellow strike bowler Kevin Livingston as the pair bowled the first 16 overs of the match in tandem.

Livingston chipped in with 2-10 from his tight eight-over spell, before skipper Jayamaha (1-11) and Dinesh Varsani (1-7) came on to wrap things up.

There was brief resistance from the Hawks tail as three of the last four batsmen all made it into double figures, but even the efforts of Junior Cole (12), Gary Lord (14 not out) and Ramanathan Ram (10) could not lift Hawks past 54.

In reply, batting conditions were still difficult and runs were hard to come by.

But opener Avdhut Chandane set down a marker as he powered his way to an unbeaten 31 to calm any nerves.

Wickets tumbled regularly at the other end as Goodmayes were reduced to 55-5 in easing past the winning line.

Skipper Jayamah opened with Chandane and was the only other Goodmayes player to reach double figures as he made 10 before being caught.

But, by then, Goodmayes were well on their way despite losing Russell Richards (3), Gary Jones (3), Imran Jamil (0) and Habib (1) all perishing, before Amarjit Singh (1 not out) and Chandane saw the side home in just 11.1 overs.