BELHUS and Gidea Park & Romford played out an entertaining draw in Shepherd Neame Essex League division two.

The home side were put into bat first and the mainstays of the innings were Shawn Findlay with 51 and Kasi Hoq 47, with the rest of the order contributing meaningfully.

They closed on 183 from 47.3 overs.

For Belhus, wicketkeeper Michael Fogg pouched three catches and executed a sharp stumping to boot while Daniel Dreher claimed six wickets for 61 runs from 15.3 overs, two of which were maidens.

Connor Day and Danny Norris picked up two wickets apiece.

After the break, the Belhus top order suffered a rare failure, but their innings was held together by Fogg's 34 and a hugely impressive undefeated 62 from Norris, which included eight fours and one six.

It was the last pair of Norris and Day who held on for the draw as Findlay, 4-19, and three wickets by Matthew Connaughton, earlier stunted any prospect of a Belhus win.

The seconds couldn’t quite bridge the gap to Gidea Park’s second side as they lost by seven runs.

A brave attempt was made by the Belhus last pair of George Maidment and Gary Sanderson to snatch a victory from the jaws of defeat.

Number eleven Sanderson joined Maidment at the crease with 34 runs required for an unlikely win. Sanderson smashed two maximums but after the pair had put on a creditable 26, the final batsmen was finally caught with Belhus on 209.

Like their first eleven, the Belhus top order stuttered as both openers were back in the pavilion after just eight overs with the score on 28. The middle order flourished although no batsman was able to build a major innings, with Jake Wolfe hitting 32, Stephen Huckstepp 37, Mark Sansom 20 and Chris Baker 28.

Belhus bowling honours went to Imran Mohammed and Matthew Williams with three wickets apiece, while Sanderson trapped two victims.

The thirds romped to an easy win over Hadleigh & Thundersley fourths, winning by 115 runs.

New recruit Russ Blackburn made his league debut for his new club and hit a fine 61 which included six fours and two maximums.

He received good support from Tom Thompson (22), Richard Waters (20), Jack Plane (21) and Sam Hall (18).

Belhus declared after 38.2 over with the score at 179-6 and they had their opponents all out for 64.

Billy Maidment, in a devastating spell of 7.2 overs, picked up five wickets at a cost of just one run.

Spin bowler Braydon Scarlett bagged four wickets for 16 runs from nine overs (one maiden) as the Hadleigh resistance finally crumbled after 38.2 overs.

The fourths looked set for victory after Zak Wilson’s unbeaten 108 helped them to 260-5 but Gidea Park fourths held on.

Belhus failed to take the remaining three wickets needed to win, as the home side ended on 156-7.

Outside Shepherd Neame Essex League competition, the Belhus fifth XI lost to their Wickford counterparts by six wickets, despite 68 from the experienced Don East.