by Geoff Maynard

Epping 250-8 dec
Woodford Green 170

EPPING finally got their league season up and running with a convincing win against local rivals Woodford Green.

A solid team display with the bat saw the home side Epping post a commanding 250-8dec off 48 overs.

There were good contributions throughout the side with young guns Dan Twitchett (23) and Jacob Ellis (14) getting things off to a speedy start.

Green took wickets steadily but were never able to stem the Epping run flow with Pasha Ali (38), Sunny Akbar (35) and Alex Merritt (37) weighing in with middle order quick runs.

Inayat Hasan provided the coup de grace by smashing a series of big sixes to take Epping to 250 and a declaration.

He finished on 41 not out and got good support from Mo Kayani (18).

Green lost opener J Sayeed early and ex-Epping captain Shahid Majeed then battled valiantly to defy his old colleagues.

With Sam Davies (30) the pair put on 58 for the second wicket.

Majeed eventually went for 31 but Green had managed to get themselves up with the run rate and Iqbal continued the assault.

He blasted 43 before succumbing to left-armer Inayat Hasan who finished with wonderful match figures of 4 for 37.

From 104 for 2 Green subsided to 147 for 6 and Amjad Khan bowled brilliantly to blast away the tail.

He took 5 for 21 as Epping won by 80 runs with 9 overs to spare.