CRICKET: Hadleigh & Thundersley suffered a five run defeat against Brentwood at the John Burrows Recreation Ground.

Second placed Brentwood batted first after winning the toss and scored 241/8 in their 50 overs.

In reply, Hadleigh fell just short as they were bowled out for 236.

The defeat kept Hadleigh fifth in the Premier Division table.

In Division One, Billericay saw off Shenfield by eight wickets.

Bottom of the table Shenfield were put into bat after losing the toss and were bowled out for 144.

Robert Rayner, Louis Barrell, Joe Carson, Arjun Bhardwaj and Matthew Elliott all took two wickets each before Billericay reached the required total for the loss of two wickets.

Matthew Bell top scored for Billericay with 57 not out while opener William Dale hit 39 to see the visitors home.

Billericay are now fourth in the table, 23 points behind second placed Belhus who occupy the final promotion position.

In Division Two, Westcliff moved up to seventh in the table with a four wicket win against Aztecs.

Aztecs were bowled out for 204 after opting to bat first with Peter Barnes the pick of Westcliff’s bowlers as he took five wickets for just 19 runs.

Barnes then also impressed with the bat as he scored 31 not out, alongside Naeem Amin who was unbeaten on 56, to lead Westcliff to victory.

Benfleet are now second from bottom in the standings after suffering an 85 run defeat to Orsett & Thurrock.

Orsett scored 329/6 in their innings before bowling Benfleet out for 244.

Rob Zammit top scored with 86 for Benfleet but it was not enough to prevent defeat.

Bottom of the table Wickford boosted their survival hopes with a four run win at Oakfield Parkonians.

Wickford scored 238/9 with Chirag Desai leading the way with 63.

Cameron Brown added 52 and Paul Corps 41 before Oakfield were dismissed for 234.

Desai took 4/37 and Brown 3/54 to secure victory for Wickford who are now 35 points from safety.

Sixth placed Old Southendian & Southchurch beat Horndon by six wickets.

Horndon were dismissed for 178 before Southendian made it home for the loss of four wickets with both Muhammad Usman Ghani and Max Craddock, who was left unbeaten, scoring 51.

In Division Three, eighth placed Leigh on Sea suffered a seven wicket defeat to Harlow Town while in Division Four, Southend & EMT beat Hawks by nine wickets and are now seventh in the standings.