Shenfield captain Ollie Ekers was delighted to see his side stick to the game plan to seal a narrow one-wicket victory over Hornchurch.

Billy Gordon won the toss and elected to bat first, with Hornchurch bowled out for 248 as Jack Newton (5-49) and Jack Plom (3-27) led the way with the ball with the skipper scoring 92.

Ekers’ men then replied with a score of 249-9 with Haris Mahmood (56) and Plom (36) top scoring.

“We always knew it was going to be a tough one against a really good side, we saw it as an opportunity to test ourselves and an opportunity to put into reality what we spoke about the week before,” Ekers said.

“Everything went to plan, the boys stuck to the game plan we spoke about, and we set ourselves targets throughout when we were chasing in the second half and stuck to them to come up with the goods at the end.”

The skipper heaped praise on Plom, Newton and Mehad Khan for their bowling efforts at Chelmsford Road.

“Plomy and Mehad both really set the tone with their efforts and the areas they were bowling into, it made it very difficult up top, and then when Jack Newton come on shortly after he really turned the screw and got us into a good position,” he added.

“The ability to take early wickets is crucial, especially against teams like Hornchurch, so Jack taking those early wickets really put us into a strong position.

“Billy kind of took the game away from us a little bit with his 90. When they were 80-6 we were looking for somewhere around 200-220 really, no more than that, but we knew 250 wasn’t a difficult chase at our ground if we got the platform right early on.

“We lost a couple early on, then Haris and Jack Plom really got their heads down and built a really solid partnership in the middle, and it gave us a bit more stability.

“Going into the back end, I said to Max Bear just keep rotating the strike, take your boundaries – for a 17-year-old to do that with ease was really pleasing to see.”

Shenfield visit Hutton next and Ekers said: “We always want to take momentum with us. Hutton is always a big game for both clubs, one we always look forward to and one neither side like to lose.”