BIILLERICAY captain David Houghton was left downbeat after his team were held to a draw by Harlow in SNEL Division One.

The stalemate left them level on points with early season leaders Orsett & Thurrock and Houghton knows a win would have put his Blunts Wall Road team top of the table.

"It was a disappointing performance on Saturday unfortunately," Houghton said.

"Our fielding was poor and we dropped a number of catches which meant they probably got 40 to 50 more runs than they should have. 

"We had opportunities in the run chase to win the game but unfortunately we found ways to get out at the wrong time, particularly me who got out to a full toss.

"However the one silver lining is that we still managed to draw the match even though we didn't play remotely near our best. There's plenty for us to work on before Fives this Saturday."

Adam Marchant led the Billericay wicket-taking with 4-57 as they bowled their hosts out for 237 in 49.1 overs at Marigolds.

Ross Poulton took 2-62 and there was a wicket each for Gary Hynes and Robert Rayner as most of the Harlow line-up chipped in with the bat.

Ahmed Khawaja top-scored with 54, while captain Rehman Ahmed chipped in with 45 for the hosts.

Billericay got off to a trick start with two of their top three going for ducks, but the middle order added substance to the reply as five batsmen got into double figures.

Poulton led the charge with 78, while wicketkeeper Christopher Tait contributed 43.

Hynes and Rayner were unbeaten as Billericay's reply reached 213-9 off 45 overs.

Fifth-placed Southend-on-Sea and EMT held out for a draw against Upminster at Southchurch Park.

The visitors posted 282-6 with openers Shahbaz Butt (105) and Shafiq Rahman (66) providing the cornerstone of the innings.

They provided Michael Gridley (2-74) with his two victims, while Ash McCafferty took 2-47.

Southend suffered a top-order batting collapse, with only Phil Gray (27) offering any resistance.

But the middle order and the tail kept the Seasiders in the hunt, as Callum Druce walloped an unbeaten 64 and Sam Rowe 32 as the hosts' reply reached 204-8 off 47 overs.

"It was a disappointing performance all round for us," said Southend skipper Joe Robbins.

"We bowled fairly average, dropped a couple of catches and besides a really good knock from Callum to see us home to a draw with his 64 not out, we didn't bat well either.

"We know we haven't played at all well this season but we are still unbeaten and hopefully the performances we know we're capable of will come and we can start picking up maximum points."

Hadleigh & Thundersley moved up to sixth place after beating Loughton by five wickets.

David Williams (2-19), Adam Dobson (2-22) and Adam Soilleux (2-21) got the lion's share of the wickets as the division's basement side were bowled out for 116 in 47.5 overs.

Owen Lynch (1-12), Richard Revell (1-20) and Sam Handley (1-20) also got among the wickets as Asfaq Parvez (38) offered the most resistance.

Hadleigh made heavy weather of their reply with Paul Tibbenham (24) and Handley (15) faring best of the five batsmen to lose their wickets.

But Jack Wagstaff (34no) and captain Soilleux (24no) saw them home as Hadleigh reached 117-5 off 34.2 overs.