DIVISION TWO: Westcliff-on-Sea captain Graham Cox has not given up on staying in division two, but admits he will be looking for the other teams at the bottom of the division to do them a favour.

Westcliff have had a torrid season since winning promotion last year, and are still on the search for their first win of the season after 11 games.

They sit 53 points adrift at the bottom of the table but Cox is confident that a win over Essex rivals Billericay this weekend could be the kick-start of a positive run of results.

Cox took over as skipper at the start of this year but has struggled with several injuries, and is currently nursing an ankle ligament tear, but he expects to play tomorrow at Chalkwell Park.

“It hasn’t been the best of seasons,” admitted Cox. “I normally open the bowling but have only been able to do that about five times this year, and that is with an injury.

“It is incredibly frustrating. The whole team has struggled with knocks and getting a team together has been hard at times.

“We have had to adjust our expectations but we certainly haven’t given up.

“We want to show we can do something and we will be giving it our all against Billericay. If we were to win four games out of six we would be giving ourselves a fighting chance.”

The first fixture between these sides last month was a thriller. Westcliff only scored 75 in their innings and seemed destined for defeat but they reduced Billericay to 76-7 in their reply, and came close to taking an unlikely win.

Elsewhere in the division, Horndon-on-the-Hill will be looking to complete a dramatic turnaround and win their third game in a row against local rivals Belhus.

Horndon had gone nine without a win but recent successes over West Essex and Leigh have pushed them to within 20 points of safety.

Leigh will be looking for a reversal in their fortunes against Hornchurch after two defeats on the bounce.

They had won four in a row before that but Dean Waller’s side are now in need of a win to cement their promotion push.