DIVISION TWO

BILLERICAY piled more misery on rivals Westcliff-on-Sea as they eased to victory thanks to some terrific batting.

Billericay travelled to Chalkwell Park to take on the bottom-of-the-table side but lost the toss.

Westcliff, as they have done in recent weeks, produced a decent batting performance as they reached 225 from their 50 overs.

Peter Barnes (72) and Bob Curtis (56) enjoyed a good day at the crease and Billericay came out to bat knowing they would need to bat well, on what was a good batting surface.

However Stewart Rutland’s side made light work of the target, thanks to Stuart Hynes (87), Dave Hinnigan (54) and an unbeaten 52 from Andrew Smith.

They reached 227 in only 31.5 overs, for the loss of only two wickets.

Rutland said his side were back on track after the win.

“This is a great win. We had some really solid partnerships but gave them 20 or so too many runs,” he said. “It was a professional performance and we did what needed to be done.

“We have been losing a lot of easy wickets recently so for the guys at the top of the order to spend some time at the crease will do great things for their confidence.”

Leigh produced one of their best performances of the season to overturn runaway leaders Hornchurch at Harrow Lodge Park.

Despite only making 194 runs, Leigh made hard work of the win and it looked as though they were in for a rough day after opener Jon Edwards fell for only two runs.

Things didn’t improve and Leigh had only made 59 runs with six wickets down but the persistence of the tail-enders proved decisive.A 31 from Joe Sexton, a terrific unbeaten 48 from number nine Billy King and an unbeaten 12 from final batsman Patrick Groves was the difference in a narrow ten run win for Leigh.

Patrick Groves and Iain McDonald took three wickets each for Leigh, with skipper Dean Waller and Sean Elliott each striking twice.

Waller said bouncing back from two straight defeats was crucial and winning over the best team in the division was great for confidence.

“This was our biggest and best performance of the season,” said Waller.

“It was a great display, especially the guys with the ball. Elliott, Groves and McDonald were terrific and I would say it was Paddy’s best bowling performance of the season.

“Now we have to carry this form on against Westcliff next weekend. No disrespect to them, but that is a give we need to be winning if we want to get promoted. And that remains our ambition.”

Horndon-on-the-Hill kept up their winning streak against the impressive Belhus in a close-fought derby.

Horndon raced to 280 in their 49 overs, having elected to bat first and they never looked like losing having scored so impressively.

Belhus reached 241-6 in their reply. The win moves Horndon to within 11 points, and one win, of safety – behind West Essex.