TEENAGER Ollie Lovejoy struck a magnificent first-ever Essex League century as Colchester and East Essex played out a draw with Southend on Sea and EMT.

The 19-year-old was in superb form at Castle Park, hitting an unbeaten 114 for his side in their Shepherd Neame Essex League premier division clash.

Lovejoy’s innings has been described as one of the best at the venue for some time as he constructed an impressive 145-run partnership with Jack Crace, who posted 53.

It helped Colchester recover from a shaky start to finish on 231 for eight but the visitors later held out for a draw.

Colchester captain Jake Foley said: “It was a great knock from Ollie at a very important time.

“We found ourselves on 32-5 and were in a bit of trouble but Ollie and Jack came in and did superbly.

“Ollie’s confidence was great to see and from the off, it looked like he had been batting all day.

“Hopefully there’s a lot more to come from him.

“He recently spent some time out in Australia playing cricket which really helped him and he’s really come on a lot.”

Chasing 232 to win the rain-affected game, Southend lost early wickets and were wobbling on 23 for three.

But despite the best efforts of the likes of Darren Eckford and Ollie Bocking, the hosts were unable to pick up the final two wickets needed for a first league win of the campaign.

“Having been on 32-5, we’d have definitely taken the score and the batting points that we ended up with,” said Foley.

“We felt that we had a good chance of winning and it was just unfortunate that we couldn’t get the remaining Southend wickets we needed.

“Darren Eckford bowled really well - he was unlucky not to walk off with a five-for and came us just short and Ollie Bocking was also unlucky not to take more wickets.

“In the end, the hour delay we had because of rain made the difference and we weren’t able to play the extra overs.

“It was a little frustrating not to get the win but there were quite a lot of positives overall.”

In the second XI premier division, Colchester (244) drew with Loughton (204-9), with Kieran Dale (57) and Alex Berry (53) both scoring half-centuries and Andrew Kennedy claiming impressive figures of 4-33.

Colchester III (146-3) beat Ilford (142) by seven wickets in third XI division two, with opener Simon Gilhooly (55) posting a half century.