South Woodford’s title ambitions take a knock as they lose to third-placed Shenfield by ten runs

South Woodford’s title ambitions took a knock on Saturday as they lost to third-placed Shenfield by ten runs.

Woodford are still top of the table but are now level on points with Chingford.

Shenfield won the toss and decided to bat, posting a respectable 194. Woodford’s Nick Browne was in good form with the ball, taking five for 52, and the visitors looked in a good position.

An underwhelming batting display however saw Woodford bowled out for 184 and despite Max Shirt (56) hitting a decent half-century, the match was lost.

South Woodford will be looking to bounce back when they host Chelmsford on Saturday.

Chingford were unable to take advantage of South Woodford’s slip-up however, as they were held to a draw away to bottom-of-the-table Buckhurst Hill.

Choosing to bat first, Chingford set an imposing target of 260 as opener Daniel Lawrence scored 74 before Shaun Eaton (52) and Chris Baldock (41 not out) made valuable contributions.

Buckhust’s bowlers struggled with Hendro Puchert taking best figures of three for 50 and Chingford looked in command.

A resolute batting performance from Buckhurst though, saw them finish on 188 for nine, sealing an important draw for the struggling hosts.

Puchert (34), Ian Russell (31), Josh Peters (38) and Jamie Allen (39 not out) all settled well at the crease, while Chingford’s Liam Lannen took four for 91 and Lenny Daniels finished with three for 28.

Chingford are at home on Saturday to Ilford, while Buckhurst Hill are away to Colchester & East Essex.

Colchester & East Essex were on the end of a nine-run defeat to Wanstead & Snaresbrook, who closed the gap on the top two.

Winning the toss and batting first, Wanstead set a target of 179 as Jonathan Das (39) and Adnan Akram (32) were the only ones to make it past 30.

A respectable total was made to look impressive however as Colchester were dismissed for 170. Mohammed Fayyaz-Khan was the star of the show, taking five for 38, while Joe Ellis-Grewal took the winning wicket and finished with three for 65.

Wanstead are at home to Upminster on Saturday.

First XI Division One

Loughton remain top of the table despite drawing with lowly Harold Wood.

Deciding to bowl first, Loughton struggled to make inroads into the Wood batting. Bilal Butt was the most potent threat, claiming three for 92, but Wood excelled and declared on 231 for eight.

Loughton were more than up for the challenge however and despite a shaky start, Hafiz Yawar Afzal (60) and Butt (66) put the league leaders in contention.

Too few others made contributions though, and once the pair were dismissed Loughton were left to hold on to a draw, finishing on 203 with just one wicket to spare.

Loughton visit Ardleigh Green on Saturday.

Woodford Wells are one place above the bottom two after holding on for a draw at home to Orsett.

Wells chose to bowl first but Orsett looked comfortable at the crease and made 266 before declaring after 52 overs. Wells’ bowlers were made to work hard for their wickets, with Rory Ellison and Donovan Miller claiming two each.

Despite a respectable start, led by Andrew Baars’ accomplished 60, a middle-order collapse all but killed Well’s chance of victory. After four ducks in a row, Rehan Iqbal (25) stabilised proceedings before Ellison secured a draw with an unbeaten 22.

Woodford Wells are away on Saturday to Hainault & Clayhall.

The league’s basement battle ended honours even as Fives & Heronians were held to a frustrating draw against fellow strugglers Harlow.

Fives batted first and set an impressive total of 303 thanks to excellent innings from Terry Ballard (93), Pete Kilpatrick (54), Rahul Patel (60) and Jake Poulter (53).

Fives made a good start in the field too as Jamie Porter (three for 50) removed the openers for low scores before Greg Summers (three for 35) got stuck into the middle order.

Harlow though, were not to be beaten easily and some resilient batting down the order meant the spoils were shared, with Harlow finishing on 169 for eight.

Fives are at home on Saturday to Hadleigh & Thundersley.

First XI Division Three

League-leaders Old Parkonians were pegged back by Pegasus & Corringham with the game ending in a draw.

Parks batted first and scored 234 thanks to a late unbeaten 61 from Vikram Handa after Shane Vamadevan (42) and Jibran Azam (47) had laid a firm foundation.

Pegasus started well in reply but three wickets for Shubhang Mehta turned the tide. Parks were unable to finish the job however and Pegasus finished on 203 for seven.

Old Parkonians are at home to Basildon & Pitsea on Saturday.

Hot on Parks’ heels at the top of the table are West Essex, who beat Old Brentwoods by 84 runs.

Opting to bat first, West Essex hit 240 with the team’s runs coming from various parts of the order. Seven players made double figures but Asif Iqbal (46) and Zia Anwar (45) were most prolific.

The visitors made a good start in the field too as Zohair Jan ran out Brentwood’s opener before taking two more wickets to leave the batting side 35 for four. Anwar then cleared up, bowling superbly to take five for 30 and seal the win. Jan finished on three for 49.

West Essex are at home to Westcliff-On-Sea on Saturday.

Woodford Green’s woes continued as they lost to Harlow Town by seven wickets.

Batting first, Green were bowled out for a reasonable total of 204. Masood Qazi top-scored with 36 but David Hawkes (35) and Matthew Field (27) also made valuable runs lower down the order.

Harlow though, were in imperious form in reply, taking just three wickets and 38 overs to reach their target. Green’s Sean Martin, Asad Ijaz and Raza Ali all took one wicket each.

Woodford Green are at home on Saturday to Old Brentwoods.

Bottom-of-the-table Epping are yet to win this season batting first and that trend continued as they lost by four wickets to Westcliff-On-Sea.

Epping were inserted and dismissed for 157 off 41.2 overs as Will Beavers was left unbeaten on 69 after sharing a partnership of 82 with Dipesh Bidiwala.

It wasn’t enough however as Westcliff reached the target after 33.4 overs with four wickets still in tact.

Epping are away to Pegasus & Corringham on Saturday.