TOM Ullyott admits Colchester and East Essex’s draw with bottom club Chingford left him lost for words.

The hosts were unable to get over the line in the Shepherd Neame Essex League clash at Castle Park, falling just five runs shy of their victory target.

Having been set 288 to win the premier division clash, Colchester came agonisingly close to victory at the close on 283 for six, as the spoils were shared.

Skipper Ullyott said: “I’m not sure how we failed to win.

“We ended up being five runs short at the end and I was stuck for words afterwards.

“I was very disappointed with the way we fielded but we batted nicely and we should have won the game.

“But having made a great start we got ourselves into a sticky situation and ended up needing six or seven runs an over.

“We needed 14 runs off the final over and ended up being five runs short.”

Having won the toss and elected to bat, Chingford were dismissed for 287 in 63.2 overs.

Ollie Bocking (3-79) the pick of the Colchester bowlers with his 18-over spell and Joe Austin (3-56) also claiming three wickets.

It did not help that Ben Allison (1-23) picked up back and hamstring injuries but Colchester were left to rue several dropped catches, which ultimately prevented them from claiming victory.

“The fielding is the easiest thing to get right, in my opinion,” said Ullyott.

“You have to want to be good at it and I’ve left our younger players know that they need to be better and more energetic in the field.”

Colchester got off to a solid start in reply, with Julian Russell (102) and Jack Hebron (28) putting on 50 for the first wicket.

Caspar Everett (22) and Ullyott (81) helped continue the momentum of the run chase and even when Russell went after completing his century, at 235 for three the hosts looked well set.

But wickets fell regularly as their innings came to a close and they were just unable to get over the line, after completing their 56 overs.

Ullyott added: “Julian batted really nicely and he’s a class act – it was a game we should have won.”

Colchester (239 for three) beat Woodford Wells (238) in the second XI premier division while the club’s third team (177 for eight) drew with Hornchurch (250 for nine declared) in third XI division one.