Belhus 1st 208-8
Hadleigh and Thundersley 1st 209-3
Belhus opening batsman Matthew Doran top scored for Belhus with a fine innings of 68 but it was not enough to prevent his team from sliding to a seven-wicket win at the John Burrows ground on Saturday. There were other contributions from Joe Joyce 13, Danny Joyce 25, Ryan Wells 31 and Vamshi Lingala with 12. Then, in the tail, Billy Winter made 21 and Danny Norris added a further dozen. Opening home bowler Adam Soilleux and first change Sam Handley picked up three wickets each at a cost of 38 and 50 runs respectively. After the break, Hadleigh’s opening batsman Paul Tibbenham and number three bat Kevin Renecke were clearly in blistering form. Tibbenham made 72 before being caught off the bowling of Matthew Williams (1-17), while Renecke was ruthless and finished with a match-winning undefeated 115. The two remaining wickets to fall were Oliver Smith, caught by Williams off Martin Guilbert (1-24) for 16 and Max Holmes, trapped leg before by Norris (1-61) without score.
Leigh on Sea 2nd 248-5 dec
Belhus 2nd 250-5
Zak Wilson struck a stylish match-winning innings of 92 at North Stifford on Saturday after Curtis, 78 runs, and Sexton, 70 runs, had laid the foundations for an impressive Leigh total.
Westcliff on Sea 3rd 109 all out
Belhus 3rd 111-6
Belhus remain in pole position in their Shepherd Neame Essex division after this four-wicket win at Westcliff High School for Boys on Saturday. Michael Cansdale led the way for the visitors with 63, after a four-strong seam attack left Westcliff all at sea. Alan Maidment’s 2-36, Aidan Mason’s 2-34, Suraj Thapa’s 1-12 and Rob Long’s 3-15 kept the lid firmly on the home batsmen, as they struggled to post a respectable score. They were eventually dismissed after 46.4 overs with Allian Arif top scoring with 24.
Shenfield 4th 171-5
Belhus 4th 115-9
The last Belhus pair, number eight batsman Barry Ruck and number eleven Baiju Mohammed held on for a draw at Ockendon Recreation ground. Joseph Tomlinson top scored in the Belhus innings with 52, while Terry Squires was the only other home batsman to reach double figures with 24. Earlier, Shenfied’s contributors were Adam Munday with 42, Ali Naqvi made 29, Chris Ashton contributed a dozen runs and Alfie Griffin proved to be a middle-order thorn by top scoring with 44, until he was bowled by Brett Page (1-18). Mohammed impressed with 2-26 from nine overs while Squires and Paul Hall joined Page in picking up one wicket apiece.
