DIVISON ONE:

SOUTHEND & EMT skipper Joe Robbins described his side’s six-wicket win at Hainault & Clayhall as their most pleasing of the season so far.

Southend came out on top thanks to an excellent innings from Matt Wagstaff who made 125 not out.

And Robbins was thrilled to pick up the victory.

“This was an awesome win for us and the most pleasing of the season so far,” said Robbins.

“We felt 257 was about par on a really good deck with relatively small boundaries.

“But we were a bit nervy at 85-4 before Matt played an unbelievable innings.

“It was brutal, clean hitting and he finished with 12 sixes.

“I’m absolutely delighted for Matt too because he deserves his 100 and hopefully we’ll get to see a lot more of it in the remaining games as it was an absolute pleasure to watch.

“He was also backed up by Phil Gray on 72 not out and he has now played a number of really sensible match-winning innings for us.”

John Horne and Michael Gridley had earlier both taken three wickets with the ball for Southend before Wagstaff and Gray took centre stage to send their side up to sixth in the Division One standings.

However, it was another bad afternoon for Hadleigh & Thundersley who were beaten by three wickets against Buckhurst Hill.

Hadleigh batted first and were bowled out for 176 with Austin Holmes top-scoring with 54 and Kellon Carmichael adding 41.

But Buckhurst Hill reached that target for the loss of seven wickets, despite Carmichael taking three wickets for just 15 runs.

The defeat was Hadleigh’s fourth in succession and they have now slipped from second to fourth in the standings, 26 points behind the promotion places.

At the other end of the table, Wickford sit eighth in the table just five points ahead of the relegation zone after a five-wicket defeat at table-topping Colchester & East Essex.

Wickford made 223-8 in their innings with opener Darren Robinson top-scoring with 83.

But that did not trouble Colchester who made it home for the loss of five wickets.