Premier Division

South Woodford’s Max Shirt hit an unbeaten 72 to help his side beat Buckhurst Hill by six wickets. Buckhurst chose to bat first and were bowled out for 165 with Hendro Puchert top scoring on 63.

Atif Zafar also added 27 but strong bowling performances from Simon Correya (three for 33) and Jake McMullen (two for 34) restricted the home side.

In the chase Woodford started well as Nick Browne (20) and Ashley Leat (24) both made useful contributions.

Josh Peters (two for 38) was the pick of Buckhurst’s attack, but Shirt’s 72 in 116 balls was the decisive performance as Woodford eased to a comfortable win.

South Woodford travel to Wanstead & Snaresbrook on Saturday while Buckhurst Hill host Ilford before taking on Brentwood in the Conference Cup a day later.

A dire batting display cost Wanstead dear as they slumped to their first league defeat of the season at Brentwood.

The day had started positively for Arfan Akram’s side as Shahid Saeed picked up two early wickets to justify his captain’s decision to bowl first.

A Brentwood partnership of more than 100 proved decisive however despite wickets falling regularly thereafter with Fayyaz Khan (four for 67) and Ellis-Grewal (three for 41) restricting Brentwood to a total of 200.

Wanstead failed to establish themselves in the chase with Petrus Hattingh (28) the only man to give the score any respectability as the Herons limped to 103 all out.

Wanstead host South Woodford in the league on Saturday before travelling to Sawbridgeworth in the first round of the CCC Cup a day later.

Chingford clinched victory against East Essex by just two runs.

Chingford batted first and made 177. Shaun Eaton was one run short of scoring a half century while Andrew Joslin (24), Billy Rhone (20), Ryan Harris (29) all added valuable runs.

In reply Colchester came very close but were dismissed for 175.

Chingford’s Alfie Taylor claimed four wickets while Ryan Harris and Ben MacGregor picked up two each.

On Saturday, Chingford face a trip to play Shenfield.

Division One

An excellent batting performance saw Loughton beat Orsett by 78 runs.

Loughton batted first and opener Mohammed Hafeez led from the front scoring 61.

The star of the show however was Hafiz Yawar Afzal who hit 101 off 113 balls and he was supported by another superb innings from Bilal Butt who scored 92.

Loughton finished on 328 for six.

Orsett started strongly but four wickets for less than 25 runs saw Orsett dismissed for 250.

Butt backed up his strong batting display with four wickets for 40.

Loughton host Fives & Heronians on Saturday.

Woodford Wells lost to Hadleigh & Thundersley after a miserable batting performance.

Only two players, Rory Ellison (15) and Fahad Uddin (10) made double figures for the visitors who were bowled out for 80.

Three wickets apiece for Tom Clark and Thomas Watkins was not enough as Hadeleigh reached their target to win.

Woodford Wells play Ardleigh Green on Saturday.

Fives & Heronians put together a brave run-chase but lost to Wickford by ten runs.

Wickford posted an impressive 261 as Fives trio Baqar Ali, Jack Jerrom and Sajid Aziz all took two wickets each.

In reply, seven Fives batsman reached double figures as Terry Ballard scored 74 and Rahul Bhome hit 40.

But it wasn’t enough as the hosts were bowled out just short.

Fives visit Loughton on Saturday.

Division Three

Woodford Green suffered a five-wicket defeat to West Essex.

Batting first, Green's Joe Hawkes (34) and Anthony Palmer (49) built a partnership before Amrit Ryatt came to the crease and took the attack to the bowling side, reaching his 50 in just 31 balls.

Ryatt struck 71 off 49 balls as the side mustered a total of 197 all out.

The first eight overs in the field were less profitable from Woodford Green and their heads started to drop as West Essex got off to a fast start.

Muhammad Zahid, Hawkes and Chris Masters all tried to stem the flow of runs but just too many extras were bowled in the opening spell and the damage looked like it was done. West Essex chased the total down in just 32 overs to secure the win. Ryatt took three for 42 for the beaten side.

Epping succumbed to a five-wicket home defeat at the hands of Harlow Town.

The hosts chose to bat first and recovered from losing early wickets to post a good total of 260.

Rakesh Bagga was bowled nine short of a century on 91 while both Alex Merritt (57) and Simon Lycett (46) were also in good form.

Harlow however batted excellently in reply and successfully chased down the target with Shiraz Ali scoring 88.

Epping’s William Beavers picked up two wickets for 48 runs in his ten overs while Ali Razam Azzar Malik and Rakesh Bagga took one each.

Epping are away to Benfleet on Saturday.

Old Parkonians beat Old Brentwoods by 44 runs with Haris Khan scoring four short of a century.

Brentwoods decided to bowl first but that decision looked questionable as four of Parkonians’ top six made double figure scores on route to a total of 276.

Khan led the way with 96, including three sixes, while Jibran Azam (48), James Foley (25) and Kirandeep Bansal (30) also batted well.

Too few of Brentwood’s more reliable batsman made scores as Shubhang Mehta (three for 29) and Jibran Azam (two for 45) bowled excellently for Parkonians to secure the win.

Parkonians are away to Harlow Town on Saturday.