Ilford Catholic began their preparations for the new campaign with two friendly defeats at the weekend.

On Saturday Ilford's third XI were beaten by Hamilton by 107 runs at Barkingside Recreation Ground.

Hamilton batted first and a knock of 101 from Yasir got Hamilton off on the right foot.

Josh Dharmanandan posted the best bowling figures of the match with 5-7 as Hamilton were bowled out for 236.

Ricki Saha (14) and Dave Revell (18) got Catholic off to a solid start, but they could not kick on and eventually finished on 129-9 after a flurry of wickets.

The following day Ilford's Sunday XI were beaten by Lucky CC by 53 runs.

Bowling first, Ilford restructed the Lucky openers with debutant Praveen Kolluguri taking 3-27 and spinner Adrian Swain taking a further three wickets.

Lucky finished on 199-7 after the overs limit was reduced to 35.

Saha (35) and Sandeep Barot opened the Catholic innings but Barot was quickly dismissed.

Wesley Benajmin (43) and Ed Tooth - unbeaten on 24 - added more runs, but Catholic eventually fell short as they finished on 146-6.