Belhus 239 ao 48.1 overs
Leigh on Sea 223 ao 40.1 overs
Belhus win by 16 runs. 25 points
Belhus came out on top in a pulsating clash at chalkwell park. Having won the toss Dan Joyce elected to bat and was quickly rueing his decision as Belhus were reduced to 11-3 thanks to the left are swing of Leigh overseas Daniel Cocking. Rebuilding was required and the middle order set about supporting Joe Joyce. Wayne Read 44 kept up his good form and Billy Winter 33 aided Joe who was finally out for 101 with the team finally succumbing for 239.
Leigh started off steadily enough but after the fall of the first wicket more followed in quick succession. Leigh skipper Dean Waller again proved to be a thorn in the side of Belhus who handed him a couple of lives with some dropped catches. Dan Dreher returned to form and was picking up regular wickets when he trapped Waller LBW for 93 claiming his 5th wicket in the process and leaving Leigh 8 down still requiring 40 to win. The Leigh tail tried to wag but Dreher picked up the 9th wicket leaving him with figures of 6-61 and when Danny Norris bowled Van Lint the celebrations began after securing their first 25 point haul of the season and remaining joint top in division 2. The season now switches from timed cricket to 50 over games for the next 9 weeks.
This weekend Belhus host joint leaders Five and Heronians.
Belhus 2nd XI 213 ao
West Essex 2nd XI 108 ao
The seconds followed the first teams lead and picked up 25 points with their first win of the season at North Stifford. Batting first a competitive total was posted thanks to 47 from Jake Wolfe and 41 from Sheraz Shahid. In response west essex were never really in the game. Spin twins Sheraz and Jimmy Banner claimed 5 wickets between them, but the star of the show was Jack Martin-Hussey who picked up 5 wickets and guided his team to victory.
Belhus 3rd XI 139 ao
Harlow 4th XI 141-3
The 3rd team suffered a heavy defeat at the hands of Harlow. Lee Weber scored 51 no on his return and helped the team post 139. Harlow didn’t take too long to reach their goal, but young George Maidment had very good figures of 2-11 off 6 overs.
Richard Waters was the star of the show as the 4th XI claimed a 2 wicket victory over Ilford 4th XI. The young side did extremely well to keep their opponents down to 191 with Eathan Morris, Jordan Sullivan, Braydon Scarlett and Ewan Day all picking up two wickets apiece. Then Waters guided the young side home with an unbeaten 96. The win keeps the 4th XI in the promotion places.
