DIVISION THREE:

Old Southendian & Southchurch captain Aaron Lucas is determined to make up for lost time this weekend.

The Old Boys head to Mopsies Park to take on Division Three rivals Basildon & Pitsea after being without a game last weekend.

Southendian had a blank week due to Pegasus & Corringham withdrawing from the league and instead beat Norway by four runs in a T20 friendly, but the Old Boys are now focusing on their promotion challenge again.

“Results did not go our way at the weekend and we dropped down to fourth, so our match against Basildon is a must-win game now,” Lucas said.

“Basildon started off poorly but they are not one of the weaker teams in the division, so it’s not going to be an easy game.

“We enjoyed ourselves against Norway last week but it’s time to focus on the league because promotion is our aim.”

Basildon & Pitsea are also desperate for a victory after their 122-run defeat to Oakfield Parkonians halted a run of back to back wins – but skipper Michael Gray knows it will not be easy.

“Old Southendians will be tough but we are hoping to get back on track,” Grays said.

“We have eight players missing this week because they are on a stag-do so we will struggle for a team but hopefully we can give them a game.

“We were hoping to get a win against Oakfield Parkonians so it would not matter so much having players missing this week but it’s one of those things.”

Stanford-le-Hope host third-placed Old Brentwoods wanting to get a win in the bag ahead of a blank weekend on July 5.

Lee Knight’s team climbed to second and trail leaders Harlow Town by 18 points from a match more after beating Benfleet by seven wickets.

“Old Brentwoods is going to be tough game because they’re doing well,” said Knight.

“It will be important to get a win because the following week we don’t have a game and we want to open a gap on Brentwoods ahead of that.”

Benfleet have key seam bowler Paul Frensham missing for four weeks as he is on holiday, but the bottom-of-the-table team are looking to Charlie Huntley to get among the wickets at home to Woodford Green.

“The only real positive to come out of the Stanford game was Charlie's bowling,” said Benfleet captain James Wilkins.

“The wickets will suit him now. He bowls quickly and had a lot of Stanford’s batsmen in trouble. He can come into it now and pick up a few wickets.”

Benfleet are still searching for their first win but Wilkins believes his team would have beaten the west Essex rivals earlier in the season had rain not forced the game to be abandoned.

He is hoping for an improvement from his batsmen and thinks the 50-over format suits his side better.

“We feel there’s more chance of picking up a result in this format and we are in with a big shout this week, and we do not see any reason why we can’t get a few more wins,” he added.

“We are not going to win the league but we are hoping to get up into mid-table.”