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For the third week in a row three Saturday League teams won and three lost but it was a bad day for both the 1st and 2nd teams.
Dropping the opener on 1 and 8 proved very costly for the 1st XI at Bentley as he went on to score 169 in a total of 339-3 with seven other catches going to ground. Rayleigh never looked like reaching this total and subsided to an all out total of 126 with skipper Matt Williams top scoring with 35.
The 2nd XI fared little better in a home match against Broomfield 1st XI and batting first were all out for 135, Steve Adams (29). The visitors passed this total for the loss of 2 wickets.
The 3rd XI travelled to Navestock & Ardleigh Green 1st XI and batting first totalled 263-7, George Barker leading the way with 121. The home side scored 183-6 in reply.
The 4th XI played Southend Echo Monarchs Trojans 2nd XI at Rawreth Lane and batting first scored 245-7, Simon Harwood (83), Richard Verrinder (56) and Daryl Ox (39*) leading the scoring. The visitors scored 184-7 in reply, Richard Mantell taking 3-32.
The 5th XI were away at Eastwood 3rd XI and totalled 204 all out, Tony Catling (52), which score the home side passed with two overs to spare for the loss of five wickets.
The 6th XI were at home to Eastwood 4th XI who were asked to bat first first and after a bright start were all out for 123, Phil Hammond mopping up the tail with 4-6 in 2.5 overs. At 41-5 it looked as though the 6th XI\’s good start to the season was to come an end but Matt Verrinder (37) and Conor Slough (19*) saw the home side home by 2 wickets.
The Sunday XI successfully chased the St Aidans total of 171 all out (Liam Druce taking 3-13, Ian Bryant 2-29 and Neil Kelly 2-32) to win by 8 wkts with Ian Bryant scoring 72* and Alex Jones 50.
The Women & Girls XI batted first at Great Waltham and Lorraine Frost (26 retired) and Jodie Billett (23) led the way to a total of 119-4 in their 20 overs. In reply the hosts scored 70-8 with Kelly Castle taking 5-2 in her 4 overs.