CRICKET: Hadleigh & Thundersley dug deep to beat Billericay by two wickets in an evenly fought Premier Division clash.

Billericay batted first at John Burrows and were bowled out for 185.

Rehman Ahmed top scored with 39 not out while skipper Adam Dobson was the pick of Hadleigh’s bowlers as he took 5/33 while Haider Ali Syed Zaidi took 3/29.

In reply, Hadleigh made it home for the loss of eight wickets, thanks to a brilliant innings from Oliver Smith.

Smith finished unbeaten on 104 as Hadleigh secured a valuable two wicket victory to remain fifth in the table.

In Division One, second from bottom Old Southendian & Southchurch suffered an eight wicket defeat against Ilford.

Old Southendian batted first and were bowled out for 117 with Ahmed Khawaja top scoring with 28.

However, Ilford made it home for the loss of just two wickets.

In Division Two, Wickford stayed top after beating Westcliff by 83 runs.

Wickford made 227/8 in their innings with wicketkeeper Ronnie McKenna scoring a brilliant 101 and opener Huzaifa Umer hitting 61.

Westcliff made 144 in return, with opener Lewis Wright top scoring with 33.

But it was Huzaifa Umer who took centre stage with the ball for Wickford as he took 7/48.

Leigh on Sea moved into second place after beating bottom of the table Southend & EMT by two runs.

Leigh made 201 in their innings with Roy Smith hitting 87 and Southend bowler Matt Mohan taking 4/38.

But Southend fell short in reply as they were dismissed for 199.

Zisan Abedin scored 113 but Leigh triumphed with skipper Tim Knox taking 4/30. Benfleet lost by seven wickets at Frenford.