Ongar 95-a/o
Stanf'd-le-Hope 151-a/o
(Division Three)

ONGAR crashed to a second successive league dfeat after a poor batting display saw them snatch defeat from the jaws of victory at home to Stanford-le-Hope.

Home captain Steve Reynolds won the toss and elected to put the hosts in to bat first on a dampish track that was always going to favour bowlers.

Only Dave Bryant (52) fared reasonably well with the willow as the Ongar attack was brilliantly led by Dean Mitchell (5-47) and was well supported by Sam Adcock, who picked up three wickets resulting in Stanford being bowled all out for just 151.

With such a reasonable target to chase and the weather holding it looked as if Ongar could register their first league win of the campaign.

But the visitors' Australian Bryant showed that he was just as good with the ball as with the bat as he ripped through the home order to record excellent figures of 7-35.

Only Reynolds (24) and Matt Maguire (20) offered any real resistance as the Love Lane-based club slumped all out for just 95.

Reflecting on the result, Reynolds said: "We put ourselves in with a great chance of winning this match with another excellent bowling and fielding display. But once again our batting really let us down and I really hope that we can put that right in the weeks ahead."