LOUSY weather on the opening Saturday of the Shepherd Neame Essex Premier League caused the Belhus 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th XI matches to be abandoned.

And by the end of the day the club’s first string also wished that their painful match had been abandoned.

Despite having won their first four matches of the season, they were soundly beaten by Hornchurch at a damp North Stifford Village Green.

Batting first, Belhus lost opener Joe Joyce to the very first ball of the match and, despite a determined 44 from Dan Norris, were dismissed for just 111.

In the run-chase, Hornchurch suffered a bit of a scare in their first over when they lost the wickets of Bones and Saunders to paceman Connor Day.

However, Roy Smith (48 not out) and Paul Murray (56 not out) steadied the ship to steer their side home to a convincing eight wicket win.

The Belhus second string lost their encounter with Lettsoms by 31 runs. On a chilly and breezy Sunday afternoon at North Stifford, Lettsoms racked up a competitive 229 for 7 in their allotted 35 overs as Richard Waters, Mike Randall and Jim Banner bagged two wickets apiece.

After tea, Chris Baker (81), Richard Waters (30) and Mike Randall (28 not out) made an effort to chase down the runs.

But Belhus could only limp to 198-8. Wood took 3-42 and Belhus fell just short of their target to lose by a total of 31 runs.