BENFLEET 196-7, OLD BRENTWOODS 122-7

(Match drawn)

Rain that fell with five overs of the opposition innings remaining may have robbed Benfleet of only their second Shepherd Neame League Third Division win of the season.

Put in to bat on their home Woodside track, Phillip Wright's 19 helped Benfleet to a solid start which Chris Webb (32) and skipper Mike Tremain (49) helped along with a stand of 54. Niger West weighed in with an unbeaten 28 late on.

However, Benfleet took the full 52 overs for their knock and probably needed a little acceleration late on although it must be said that Brentwoods bowled tidily.

Brentwoods were struggling at 122-7 when the rain arrived. A good opening spell from Troy Burns (4-26) had only really been countered by Bell's 39.

A seventh-wicket stand of 30 between Bajwa (17 not out) and Boyce (14) had just been broken when the elements intervened to leave Benfleet wondering what might have been.

They took nine points and Brentwoods just three.

LEIGH 194-7, WICKFORD 195-3

(Wickford won by seven wickets)

A quite astonishing sequence of events at Chalkwell Park saw Leigh end the day with a comprehensive defeat.

After winning the toss, Leigh began batting with some costly losses.

After being 7-0, 84-4 and 120-7, they later rallied to amass their 194 total with the aid of Adam Goodman (40), Simon Burch (46 not out) and a fine knock of 33 from 17-year-old debutant Ed Freeman.

However, it was only when Wickford took the crease that the game became something of a freak show.

Late arrivals could have been mistaken for thinking the scorer had fell asleep as, after an hour and five minutes, Wickford's opening batsman had failed to score a single run.

After 90 minutes, and with Wickford on 50-2, Leigh were hopeful of at least a draw as it was obvious runs were not coming fast enough for the visiting side.

However, with the stage set, It truly was a case of cometh the hour, cometh the man as in stepped 20-year-old South African Quinten Friend with orders to "hit a quick 20".

Friend could not have been more obliging as he completed his task in the first four balls!

Two sixes and two fours soon brought the game to life as Leigh realised they had to dismiss the big hitter as soon as possible.

However, it was the beginning of the end for the host side as Wickford's overseas player went on to destroy the Leigh bowlers with 100 runs coming of just 67 balls, including seven sixes.

David Glynn finally bowled Friend with a cracking delivery to remove his middle stump, but by then the damage had been done.

Mark Wakham added 50 to compound Leigh's woes.

Shell-shocked Leigh skipper Simon Burch described the match as "unbelievable."

He added: "To make things worse it was getting dark towards the end of the game and no one could see a thing.

"Just as the match ended we were all soaked by a thunderstorm and then, just for good measure, my car ran out of petrol on the journey home."

BILLERICAY 114 all out

WANSTEAD 115-1

(Wanstead won by nine wickets)

Billericay returned from their visit to Wanstead as premier division basement boys as another woeful batting display cost them dear.

The struggling Billericay side simply had no answer to the home attack who maintained pressure throughout the day.

Only four Billericay batsmen managed double figures - Richard Swile's 36 being the only score good enough to have mounted a serious challenge.

Fiaz was the main thorn in Billericay's side as he claimed four of their wickets for 32 runs.

Wanstead wasted little time in racking-up their victory, They took just 20 overs to pass Billericay's paltry total with Chambers firing 41 and Richards knocking 62.

Converted for the new archive on 19 November 2001. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.