Buckhurst Hill 132-5
Benfleet 131-a/o
(Division Three)

HILL secured their first league win of the season after grabbing a comfortable five-wicket success against Benfleet at Roding Lane.

Home skipper Tim Scott won the toss and asked the visitors to open the batting, which seemed an inspired decision when three top order batsman were quickly removed for just nine runs between them.

And in the end Philip Wright (54) and Paul Tremain (40) were the only batsmen to prosper as Benfleet were bowled out for 131 in just 43.5 overs, with no other batsman making double figures.

Khuram Pervez (4-13) enjoyed a brilliant spell at cleaning up the tail during his 7.5 overs, while Paul Kirby and Umar Farooq provided some good support, returning figures of 3-32 and 2-27 respectively.

Hill made slow progress at the start of their reply, as Joe Slisz (20), Moin Mulla (11) and Jamie Allen (16) all battled to put runs on the board.

Scott (22), an undefeated 42 by Phil Gray and one not out from Kirby saw the hosts complete the job in 35 overs.

Dave Miles took two wickets for the visitors and Steve Scott and Gareth Steed one each as Buckhurst Hill secured a victory that leaves them fourth in the table.

A happy Scott said: "At one stage I thought we might lose the game to the weather, which given the position we had got ourselves in would have been hugely disappointing.

"I thought we bowled and fielded really well on the day, and while I was a little disappointed that we lost so many wickets in chasing down their total I was happy to get our first win on the board.

"Hopefully now we can build on this result."