LEIGH fell to their first defeat of the season despite setting Fives & Heronians a target of 213 to win in poor conditions.

Captain Dean Waller won the toss and elected to bat, with Rob Catchpole and Sean Elliott hitting 55 and 46 respectively.

The lower order also chipped in with useful knocks but Fives & Heronians stormed back in their own innings, surpassing the target with only 31 overs on the board, Terry Ballard top scoring with 87.

“We were very confident even when they were batting,” said Waller.

“We thought we had a chance of winning but the boundary was brought in on one side because of the wet and they were hitting easy sixes.”

Leigh took ten points from the encounter, leaving them on 36 points from three games.

Elsewhere in the division, Westcliff were frustrated by the abandonment of their match against Horndon-on-the-Hill.

With their opening game cancelled due to the weather and losing to Leigh last weekend, skipper Graham Cox was desperate to get some points on the board.

Horndon batted first and hit 162 in their 39 overs before declaring, five wickets having fallen. However, after the rain had already interrupted play several times, the umpires called time on the clash in the second over of Westcliff’s response, leaving both sides with six points.

“It was very frustrating,” said Cox, who is currently injured. “Maybe the umpires should have called time on their innings sooner to give us a chance to win the match, but Horndon wouldn’t have wanted to cut short their own innings and given us the chance of a win.

“Batting second on that pitch would have been hard work so six points isn’t too bad.”

Billericay’s match versus Orsett was postponed.