SHEPHERD NEAME: THE borough’s Shepherd Neame cricket teams enjoyed a mixed bag of results at the weekend as the sun finally produced some proper cricketing weather. But it was a tough weekend for Thurrock’s top ranked team, Orsett who were beaten.

Orsett slipped to eighth in the table after going down by 83 runs away to Hainault & Clayhall.

It was the hosts’ first win of the season and moved them up to sixth, three points ahead of their visitors.

Irfan Shah (66) and Zoheb Sharif (58) were Hainault’s mainstays before the hosts were bowled out for 232 in 49.5 overs, with George Pavitt (5-37) and Guarav Bhandari (3-48) their main tormentors.

Wesley Fernando (43), Philip Landman (38), Ryan Plom (32) and Mohammed Ahktar (10) made early inroads into the target.

And at this stage it looked to be a tally they might be able to treach. But with but Shahid Khan (10) the only other Orsett batsman making it into double figures before the collapse.

And Orsett capitulated at 149, with Suleman Qadir claiming 4-30.

In Division Two Horndon on the Hill took on a determined Belhus outfit.

But in the end it was Horndon who produced a gritty four-wicket win.

Belhus lost the toss and were put into bat.

But things wejnt badly for the team and they found themselves scuppered for a paltry179.

Horndon then reached that total for the loss of six wickets in the 42nd over of their innings.

It was not such a good day for bottom-of-the-table Stanford le Hope, who suffered a six-wicket defeat against Romford & Gidea Park.

Stanford made 195-8 in their innings, with Shehan Perera top-scoring with 36, before Romford eased home for the loss of just four wickets.

Jacon Schouten was the best Stanford bowler, taking three wickets for 35 runs.

In Division three Pegasus & Corringham’s home winning streak ended with a three-wicket defeat to Old Brentwoods.

But vice-captain Neil Gray said his side were to blame for not making it three home wins on the bounce.

“We got 131 on a difficult wicket that was not easy to bat on, but another 20 or 30 runs would have been enough,” said Gray, standing in for skipper Paul Bennett.

“It was a tale of dropped catches cost matches as we dropped their batsmen who got 43 early doors and then again towards the end.

“If we had got him we would have gone through them and we are definitely disappointed that we did not kick on after getting a couple of wins.”

Pegs were put into bat and were dismissed for 131 after 44 overs. Martin Sayer (28) fared best but only four other batsmen – Danny Freeman (13), Keith Hawkes (12), Danny Crow (11) and Harry Morgan-James (11) – got into double figures as Rajnish Dohal took 4-30 and Sajjad Mirza 3-12.

Dohal’s unbeaten 43 anchored the reply and three other batsmen got into the mid-teens before the visitors won with 133-7, while Ian Turnbull (2-27), Morgan-James (2-27) and Crow (2-19) took a brace each.