FORMER England international Monty Panesar had Hadleigh and Thundersley in a spin on Saturday.

Panesar, who took 167 wickets for England in 50 Test matches, is lining up for Hornchurch in the Premier Division of the Shepherd Neame Essex League this season.

And Panesar caused Hadleigh plenty of problems at the weekend, taking six wickets for just 22 runs as Hornchurch triumphed by 134 runs, much to the disappointment of Adam Soilleux.

“Panesar is a former Test cricketer and of course a very good bowler, but the slow pitch and scoreboard pressure helped make it tougher for us,” said Soilleux.

“Before that, we bowled very well on a slow pitch.

“We kept the run rate under control throughout the 64 overs but dropped catches at key moments released pressure which you can’t afford to do at this level.”

And Hadleigh skipper Richard Revell was also left feeling frustrated after seeing his side bowled out for just 77.

“It was a day to forget with the bat,” said Revell.

“We bowled well and restricted Hornchurch to 211.

“I thought we had a really good chance in chasing that total down but, unfortunately, we batted very poorly and got bowled out for 77.

“However, we still showed we can compete and we can improve our batting in time for our home game against Ilford.”

Hornchurch opted to bat first after winning the toss and finished their innings on 211/7.

Ronnie Saunders top scored with 66, while Billy Gordon added 52 and Jamie Sorrell 48.

Sam Handley did most of the damage with the ball for Hadleigh as he took three wickets for 54 runs.

Haider Ali Syed Zaidi took 2-65, while Richard Revell and Adam Dobson both took a wicket each.

However, Hadleigh struggled badly with the bat and were dismissed for just 77.

Soilleux top scored with 21, but the second highest scorer was extras, with 11, as Hadleigh’s batsmen found it tough going.

With Panesar taking centre stage, just three Hadleigh batsmen reached double figures as they slumped to their second successive defeat at the start of the season.

Hadleigh - who were promoted from Division One last year - took three points from the game and now sit eighth in the early league standings.

Hadleigh will now be hoping for a case of third time lucky when they host third-placed Ilford at John Burrows Park this weekend looking for their first win of the campaign.