Hainault & Clayhall lose to lowly Leigh

Hutton claimed a vital victory in their fight for survival in Essex League Division Two over high-flying Oakfield Parkonians.

Captain Stuart Feeley chose to bat first after winning the toss but lost Daniel Hagger early to Selvam Ramasamy.

Mitchell Fenn (26) helped move the total to 60 with Jonathan Mowll before falling to Ramya Upadhyay, but Feeley fell cheaply to Abdul Razzaq to leave Hutton 69-3.

Mowll and Carl Mumba put on 43 for the fourth wicket, but Parks captain Jibran Azam bowled the Zimbabwean.

Upadhyay dismissed Mowll for 56, having hit eight boundaries, to make it 120-5, but Alex Tredgett and Alex Pearce (30) kept the scoreboard moving to lead Hutton to 187-7.

Tom Patterson then produced some late fireworks, hitting two sixes and four fours in an unbeaten 52 off just 31 balls as the hosts closed on 233-9, with Upadhyay (3-27) and Ramasamy (2-44) the pick of the Parks bowling.

The visitors lost Faisal Bhatti cheaply in reply, run out by Tredgett, and Azam fell for just five to Mumba to leave them 34-2.

Haris Khan and Upadhyay (21) made starts, before Paran Kalley fell two runs short of a half-century, having hit a six and six fours in a 44-ball knock.

Parks were always up against the run rate as wickets continued to fall and were all out for 172 in the 39th over, after Dave Rai (30) showed some defiance.

Mowll (3-17) completed a good all-round display, with Mumba (3-34) also impressing as Hutton moved eight points clear of the bottom two.

Defeat leaves Parks four points behind second-place Gidea Park & Romford with four matches remaining.

*****

Hainault & Clayhall fell to a three-wicket defeat against lowly Leigh at Chalkwell Park.

Irfan Shah fell cheaply, with Mousshin Ismail following him back to the pavilion to leave the visitors 27-2.

Sagar Joshi (22) and Etinder Bopara (29) made starts with the bat, but wickets continued to fall at regular intervals and Hainault were all out for 147 in the 36th over.

Ismail hit back with the ball early in Leigh’s reply, but a 58-run stand for the second wicket gave the home side a platform.

Hainault captain Ryan Hurst (2-37) struck twice in quick succession and Khalil Khan (3-23) raised hopes further as Leigh suffered a mini collapse to 91-5.

But home skipper Dean Waller held firm and took his side to within four runs of success, which was secured in the 41st over.