COLCHESTER and East Essex Cricket Club all-rounder Adi Ashok has been called up to the full New Zealand T20 squad for its tour of UAE, next month.

Ashok, 20, has stepped up from the Kiwis’ A squad for the tour which takes in Dubai and the UK.

He is due in the UAE for the first Blackcaps match on August 17.

 

Colchester and East Essex CC has a proud record of producing internationals, with the likes of Neil Foster, Reece Topley, Tom Blundell and Ben Foakes all progressing to full international level.

Ashok’s sensational man of the match performance last weekend lifted Colchester and East Essex back into second place in the Hamro Foundation Essex Premier League.

Gazette:

Home side Loughton CC won the toss and elected to field, despite the amber warning for wind and rain resulting in intermittent inclement conditions.

After Colchester lost Guy Haines for a first-ball duck, Ashok joined Joe MacGregor (63) in a second-wicket partnership of 135.

Ashok and wicket-keeper Simon Fernandes (48) then took the score to 233 for three when the New Zealand under-19 star lost his wicket, having scored a magnificent 135.

Charlie Allison, fresh from a hundred midweek for Essex’s second XI, rhen plundered 33 in merely 12 deliveries, including five sixes.

Gazette:

At the interval, Colchester’s total of 320 for five wickets declared had batted the home side out of the game.

The question then was, could Colchester take the necessary ten wickets to win in the residual 60 overs, or would this fixture drift into yet another draw?

A draw initially looked highly likely after Hamza Ahmed (45) and Ossie Elliott (63) dug in for Loughton.

Crucially, Charlie Watts and Charlie Fernandes took their wickets to break the deadlock, then Ashok quickly mopped up six wickets for a miserly 40 runs to ensure Colchester claimed a 166-run victory by 166 runs.

Gazette: Adi Ashok

At Castle Park, Colchester’s second XI suffered its sixth defeat despite dismissing Loughton CC for a modest 203 thanks to spinner Jacob Drew’s 5-57 in 16 overs.

In reply, Colchester stumbled to 176 all out, the only significant contributions coming from skipper George Offord (54) and Jonty Ray (35).

Colchester’s XI return to Castle Park on Saturday to meet third-placed Chelmsford, 11am.

Admission is free and the bar open all afternoon.

Further excitement also grows as we near the Colchester Cricket and Beer Festival commencing on August 3.

It features Colchester’s first XI versus Brentwood CC on Saturday, August 5 along with the Silver Ashes - England versus Australia Over 70s - on Sunday, August 6.