SHEPHERD NEAME ESSEX LEAGUE, DIVISION TWO

OLD SOUTHENDIAN & Southchurch geared up for their crunch top-of-the-table clash with Oakfield Parkonians with a seven-wicket win at Benfleet.

Adam Rendall put Benfleet’s batsmen to the sword by claiming 6-26, while Matthew Austin (2-24) and Adam Hunt (2-18) inflicted more misery as the hosts were bowled out for 85.

Benfleet had a weakened batting line up on Saturday and only Callum Wheeler (13), James Wilkins (15) and captain Gareth Steed (14) got into double figures.

Rob Johnson (17) and Max Craddock (12) went quickly but Chris Bunce (43) steadied the reply and captain Aaron Lucas (12no) saw the Old Boys to 88-3, with Jamie Hodgson, Wheeler and Steed taking a wicket each.

“Full credit to the Old Boys, it was the most concentrated bowling we have faced all year,” said Steed.

“I think coupled with the fact we were missing a few batsmen and how well Old Southendian bowled, it proved a bit too much for our batting.

“We got them three down and if we had more runs on the ball we might have put them under a bit of pressure, but Old Southendian are a good side and they did a good job.”

Westcliff’s run of good form continued as they walloped visitors Epping by 191 runs.

The Chalkwell Park hosts racked up 365-7 from their 50 overs with Jack Stead (89), Adam Pickering (64), Noel Smith (55), Lewis Groves (51) and Peter Barnes scoring freely against an attack led by Shrikant Shetty (4-77).

Callum Pastfield (4-58), Graham Cox (3-36) and Pickering (2-50) did the damage with the ball as Westcliff bowled their visitors for 174 in 28 overs to make it six wins on the trot.

“The boys batted really well and we did the job with the ball as well, so we really rolled them over,” said Westcliff captain Chris Gladwin.

“They did not really go for it at any stage which was surprising as they had nothing to lose.

“But it was great to see five batsmen get 50 and Pastfield, Cox and Pickering all bowled well to see them off.

“I had 17 players to select from on Saturday and that was a good position to be in because that was probably the strongest team we have put out this season.”

Basildon & Pitsea ended their two-match losing streak with a three-wicket victory over hosts Old Brentwoods.

Dean Bedford (3-38), Ben Munday (2-41) and Lloyd Lambert (2-22) got among the wickets as Old Brentwoods made 215-9 from their 50 overs, with Sumit Sharma (53) and K Sarwar (48) anchoring the innings.

Basildon got off to a good start through Jamie White (40) and Rob Davies (33), with Lambert adding 36.

There was a mid-innings wobble but Jon Bonnett (51no) and Munday (31no) steered Basildon to 221-7 in 40.3 overs.

“It was good to get back to winning ways,” said Basildon captain Michael Gray. “We nearly threw it away again but Jon and Ben batted really well and saw us home.

“It was good to get the win because after beating the top two teams we had not been able to beat the teams below us.”