Cricket encounter sees Loughton fall to Wayne Read's men

Just how close this division is likely to be is best illustrated by the fact that Loughton fell from second to seventh with this defeat. Orsett are fourth, just four points behind a Hornchurch side they host next week.

Orsett skipper Wayne Read was honest enough to admit that his side had, in some ways, stolen victory. Put in after losing the toss, Orsett looked on a hiding at 35-6.

But their two South Africans now domiciled in Britain, Steve Mendes and Philip Landman, saved the day. While Mendes hit 41, Landman was undefeated on 52 at the end. Essex man Tony Palladino was the home bowling star with 6-67 while Seb Gallagher took 4-49 Hornchurch Athletic 4th 111ao Grays & Chadwell 3rd 112-2 THE third string at Grays bounced back from last weeks defeat to record a professional victory against Hornchurch 4th’s who are languishing at the bottom of the table.

But for the efforts of Rory Lane, Grays would have achieved victory much sooner.

Colt Reece Downes struck early, as did wily veteran Colin Pomphrett, as the new ball provided penetration. Hornchurch clung on in the main; however, Lane was the one batsman who showed aggression in the face of a concerted, accurate effort from the whole of the Grays attack.

Where others struggled to do much more than survive, the Hornchurch number four swung away any poor deliveries, keeping the scoreboard ticking along almost off his own back.

Grays could perhaps be excused for being watchful after seeing the steady trickle of wickets cause the ruination of the home side.

Danny Groves’ uncompromising, flashing style proved to be the best suited to deal with the flagging attack. He came to the wicket and laced a flurry of boundaries, thrusting Grays close to the winning line.

With opener Mark Arter continuing his determination to prevent collapse, Groves injection of runs proved decisive. He smashed 37 before taking a risk too many and having his furniture disturbed. It was a simple task for Arter, carrying his bat for 33, to see Grays home.

Hadleigh & Thundersley 1st 127 Grays & Chadwell Sun 1st 128-9 A THOROUGHLY entertaining game was played out at Hadleigh in a game that went down to the very last wicket and saw the maiden five wicket haul from one of Grays clutch of promising colts, Callum Sellars.

From the off, Grays had control of the game. Martin Burnley struck twice in two balls early in his spell and Cohen (1-11) added another to have Hadleigh 21-3 in the opening overs. Revell and Grosvenor hit back after Burnley’s 2-37 new ball burst, determined not to get buried under the cosh. But Grays turned to their quartet of spinners and pegged Hadleigh back once again.

First, Shojahi cleaned out Grosvenor for 15, then did the same to Revell, ending his resistance on 38. The rest or their slow bowling unit kept the pressure on but it was 14-year-old Callum Sellars that tore through the Hadleigh tail. His left arm orthodox was delivered with great flight that invited rash shots. In a 5 over burst Sellars had cleaned them out, showing the kind of bravery, guile and control all good slow bowlers possess. Catches in the deep were held, giving Sellars the wickets he deserved, then he managed to claim the prize scalp of Pritcher who showed some graft with a battling 42 constructed while the tail collapsed around him.

In the end Sellars snuck one through the gate to claim his fifth wicket for just 10 runs and close the innings with Grays having a seemingly simple run chase ahead of them. But it was not to be. An early wicket didn’t seem to matter much as Cohen (19) and Tony Milsom (19) carefully guided Grays past the new ball and onto 50. It looked to be a stroll until both fell within 10 balls of each other, and then Revell added a second wicket to post 2-23 to fray Grays’ nerves.

They were calmed somewhat by colt Ross Fullbrook and Jay Shojahi’s 40 run partnership, crafted in watchful fashion that took them to almost three figures and within a handful of victory. But again a collapse had them scrambling for the line. Fullbrook finally lost his composure on 19 and was stumped, then as Hadleigh juggled their bowling, Jenkinson struck twice in successive overs and Grays were suddenly 121 for 9. It was Callum Sellars again who was there to strike the winning runs Stanford 2nds 236 for 9 Belhus 2nds 237 for 3 STANFORD’s 2nds had it much tougher than the 1sts as they came up against an in-form Belhus 2nds at North Stifford.

At 54-4, Stanford appeared to be struggling, but Ian Rudder (79) steadied the innings brilliantly.

He enjoyed good support from Josh Reid as they added 65 for the 5th wicket and then took responsibility to nurse the lower order along to the relative safety of 236-9 declared.

Chris Baker was the star with the ball for the home side, creating problems all afternoon as he took 5-62. Stanford picked up 3 wickets as Belhus began their reply.

However, any thoughts of pushing on for a win were dashed by a splendid, unbeaten partnership of 176, between Gavin Jeffries (103no) and Nick Marns (93no).

They proved to be a class apart as they gave away nothing to the visitors, clinching a comfortable seven wicket win.

Stanford 4ths 257 for 5 dec Brentwood 6ths 116ao Stanford 4ths will be suffering from nose-bleeds if they continue like this!

The perennial whipping boys of the bottom division are showing some teeth!

The innings of the game was a cavalier maiden ton by U15 Sam Sewell (108), who lashed the ball to all parts. He got great support from the ever reliable Ryan Smith.