OLD Southendian & Southchurch captain Matt Wilson was delighted to see his side open their Division Two campaign with a nine-wicket win at Horndon-on-the-Hill.

Andrew McGarry finished the day with impressive bowling figures of 5-33, as the visitors were bowled out for just 90 runs.

Old Southendian & Southchurch reached their target within 22 overs, with wicketkeeper Rob Johnston being the only batsman to lose his wicket.

And Wilson thinks his side could not have started the season any better.

Wilson said: “I couldn’t have asked for much more from anyone.

“Everyone was brilliant and if we could play like that every week it would be great, but we will have a lot of tough challenges this year.

“We have a really good team and there are players waiting in the wings if anyone does slip up so I am happy with the squad we have this year.”

Old Southendian & Southchurch’s Matthew Austin took the early wickets of openers Tom Stone and Muhammad Asif, before dismissing Connor Hammond for a solitary run.

Then McGarry caught and bowled Jack Walsh, and claimed the scalps of Jeff West, Shahbaz Iqbal, Mike Canavon for a duck and Scott Plom.

Matthew McCallum took the wickets of Martin Sayers and Jack Marson to finish with figures of 2-5, but Wilson feels the addition of McGarry will prove invaluable this term.

“We were ecstatic with his performance with the ball,” admitted the Old Southendian & Southchurch skipper.

“He has come into the club with a lot of experience and he will be massive for us this season.

“He has helped a lot with the coaching as well so I’m pleased with the impact he has made so far.”

With Horndon-on-the-Hill all out for just 90 runs, opening batsmen Johnston and Max Craddock put the hosts on course for victory.

Johnston was eventually out for 35, but Craddock’s half century and Sam Hodgson’s two runs guided Old Southendian & Southchurch to a nine-wicket triumph.

Wilson added: “We knew that if we rotated the strike early, got some runs and punished the bad balls then we would do well, and Rob and Max were excellent.”

Elsewhere, Bilal Butt proved to be Basildon & Pitsea’s nemesis as the Loughton all-rounder finished with bowling figures of 6-51 before scoring 71 not out with the bat to lead Loughton to a six-wicket win.

No.6 Phillip Tooke proved to be the hosts’ best performer with the bat, as he hit 44 runs before falling to Butt.

Michael Gray, Tom Poole and Dan Bedford were out for single figures, while Craig Thompson was dismissed without affecting the run total as Basildon & Pitsea were all out for 200.

Bedford took the early wicket of Fahad Anwar, to leave Loughton on 5-1, but Umar Choudhry came in and formed a decent partnership with Jack Dennis before being sent from the crease by Bedford.

Liam Rouse took the wickets of Dennis and Keiran Scarlioli, but Butt and John Mills steered the visitors to victory.

Meanwhile, Wickford had to settle for a draw against Hutton.

Daniel Pryke impressed with the ball, finishing with figures of 4-42, as Hutton were 221 all out.

Gareth Wright hit a half century for the hosts, while captain Chirag Desai and Anthony McKenna added 36 and 30 respectively before a draw was sealed with Wickford on 196/8.