OLD Southendian & Southchurch’s winning run was brought to an end by Hainault & Clayhall at the weekend.

The Old Boys had been on fine form in recent weeks and had won three matches on the bounce but their batsmen failed to find their form on a sunny day at Oakfield.

And captain Aaron Lucas said he team failed to reach the level of previous weeks, and had expected his team to win at the half way stage.

“We’re relatively happy but we are a bit frustrated,” he said. “After bowling them out for 219 it was a game that was in our hands. At half-time I thought we would win. But their captain Ryan Hurst bowled well and the ball was turning a lot and we didn’t play him as well as we should have.

“We have a batting line-up which runs down the order and to go from 108-2 and only needing another 100 odd to win, to close on 183 was disappointing.

“But we aren’t far from where we want to be and we are still upbeat.”

Hainault chose to bat first and were indebted to an excellent 70 not Hurst at number five, with the remainder of the order struggling to get into their stride.

Irfan Singh (25), Mousshin Ismail (29) and Rameez Rehman (29) were the best of the rest, as the hosts closed on 219 all out.

Amit Gupta took 3-38, Adam Rendall 3-50 with David Johnson (2-25) and Matt Austin (2-56) also among the wickets.

Southend got off to the worst possible start when Max Craddock was run out for a duck, with Gupta (42) and Johnson (38) the best performers with the bat.

Adam Rendall’s late 23 not out showed brief resistance but it was not enough for Old Southendian.

Leigh-on-Sea went down by 96 runs against Harlow Town, with Neil Gladwin’s excellent knock proving decisive.

Gladwin hit 96, and was ably supported by the middle order as Harlow made 249 in 49.4 overs.

Paddy Groves (3-56), Dan Cocking (2-41) and Matt Curtis (2-12) were the pick of the bowlers.

Leigh’s only resistance came from captain Dean Waller who bludgeoned 66 from 49 balls. However, the next highest score was Jon Edwards’ 17 meaning the hosts were always going to struggle.

They are all out for 153 at Chalkwell Park.

Wickford remain rock bottom after a crushing eight wicket defeat against Gidea Park & Romford.

Having won the toss on a good wicket, Wickford would have fancied their chances of scoring well on a good wicket.

But they were all out for a laboured 138, with only four batsmen in double figures.

Gidea Park lost just two wickets in the 26.2 overs it took to surpass the total.

Horndon-on-the-Hill lost by seven wickets to second-placed Oakfield Parkonians.

It was another case of the side winning the toss failing to make the most of a favourable wicket, as Horndon were all out for 204 with nine overs to spare.

Jeff West hit 64 and Jack Marson 37 not out but there was not enough support to reach a sustainable total.

Oakfield lost just three wickets in their chase, with Faisal Bhatti’s 80 and Ramya Upadhyay’s 59 not out seeing them over the line.