Harold Wood and Gidea Park & Romford both suffered defeats in their latest Shepherd Neame Essex League Division One outings.

Romford Recorder: Aditya Kumar in bowling action for Gidea Park & Romford (pic Gavin Ellis/TGS Photo)Aditya Kumar in bowling action for Gidea Park & Romford (pic Gavin Ellis/TGS Photo) (Image: ©TGS Photo tgsphoto.co.uk +44 1376 553468)

Wood made the trip to picturesque Castle Park and captain Craig Perrin chose to bat after winning the toss.

Openers Raihan Hussain (45) and Mdaminul Isalm Shihan (35) put on 84 to get them off to a good start, but wickets then fell at regular intervals as they slipped to 152-6.

Shahbaz Khan held firm and put on 56 for the seventh wicket with Hamzah Ikram (20), finishing unbeaten on 66 from 89 balls as Wood were dismissed for 223 in the penultimate over.

But the home side timed their chase well, with half-centuries from opener Joe MacGregor (75) and Jack Hebron (94 not out) seeing them to a seven-wicket win in 44 overs, as Ikram (2-39) nabbed a brace for Wood.

Meanwhile, Park travelled to Orsett and saw the home side amass 291-8 from their 50 overs on the back of centuries from Paul Bennett and Nawaz Ahmad Jan.

Sam Sullivan (3-45) and James Pegram (2-60) had the most success with the ball for Park, but they slumped to 66-5 in reply with captain Jamal Francis (31) the only top-order batsman to make a start.

Aditya Kumar and Harry Phillips (36) steadied the ship with a 71-run stand, with Sullivan (28) helping to put on another 64.

Kumar fell for 85, having hit 15 fours in his 77-ball innings, and Park were dismissed for 236 in the 47th over.