On Saturday Dunmow slipped to a 79 run defeat against their biggest rivals in the Two Counties Championship Division Three, Brockley. Brockley won the toss and decided to bat. For 30 of the 45 overs Dunmow were well on top with T Hughes taking 1-28 off o

On Saturday Dunmow slipped to a 79 run defeat against their biggest rivals in the Two Counties Championship Division Three, Brockley.

Brockley won the toss and decided to bat. For 30 of the 45 overs Dunmow were well on top with T Hughes taking 1-28 off of 13 overs and J Reid taking 2-36 off his nine overs.

Good tight spells by both openers restricted Brockley to only 77 runs off the first 25 overs. However a great innings by J Reed saw him score 129, only falling in the closing overs as he held things together as wickets fell around him. R Cross (0-68) and P Reid (2-56) also bowled well, but Brockley managed to reach 224-7 off their 45 overs.

In reply Dunmow were always in trouble as an early wicket saw them reduced to 2-1 after only 1.1 overs. Wickets fell at regular intervals and the hosts lost six wickets for only 70 runs.

Only J Reid managed to go on as he made a brutal 41 in quick time, but Dunmow were dismissed for only 145 in under 35 overs.

J Reed was the pick of the bowlers as he picked up 5-57 and D Sykes also chipped in with 3-43 from his 14 overs.

Dunmow will look to improve on their poor run of form next Saturday away at Haverhill.

Dunmow Seconds' poor run continued on Saturday when they slipped to a 50 run defeat at High Beach in the Herts and Essex Division two.

Dunmow won the toss and elected to field, which looked like an inspired decision when Josh Rix took a wicket in the first over. However, Dunmow conspired to put down six catches in the next 15 overs. All this meant that despite an excellent slip catch by Mark Barnes, after 18 overs High Beach were 164- 2 .

However, the fighting spirit of the Dunmow team became evident once again as they worked hard to try and regain some of the initiative. Mark Sykes (2-27), Anu Weerasinge (3-40), Matt Gibson (2-44) and Josh Rix (3-49) all bowled significantly better in their second spells, meaning that by the 45th over High Beach were all out for 229.

Once again though, Dunmow could not bat as a team to support the main run getter, in this case, skipper Dave Gypps. Opening the innings he made a magnificent 105 before being seventh man out in the 36th over.

No other batsmen made more than 14 to support him and High Beach's Mickey Bear cleaned up the tail to finish with 4-34 as Dunmow were all out for 179.

Dunmow seconds host Langley in the league on Saturday.

Chesterfords came out on top in a thrilling contest at Matching Green on Saturday, winning by two runs.

Wazz Mughal elected to bat first, but Chesterfords were in trouble in the third over losing the wickets of Paul Phillips and James Pullen with neither scoring.

David Perring joined David Lightning (7) at the crease and the pair of them dug in, producing 25 runs. Luke Claydon and Perring enjoyed a good partnership with Claydon supporting well until he was cleaned bowled for 10. Perring was joined by Mughal and the pair of them dug their heels in.

They played with maturity as they doubled the score inside 10 overs. Perring was eventually caught for a splendid 54, and Mughal followed soon after for a gutsy 32. Lower order resistance from Greg Watson allowed Chesterford to post 149-9 off their 45 overs.

The bowler friendly conditions continued into Birchanger's innings and Tom Thake (1-19 in 8 overs) bowled economically, but it was the bowling of Alan Stokley that shaped the game.

His figures of 6-23 off 10 overs put Chesterfords firmly in the driving seat and with Birchanger at 47-7, things looked wrapped up. However, some low order patience by E and S Sellier got Birchanger back into the game.

With one ball to spare in the penultimate over and the score at 147-9, David Perring came through to save the day clean bowling the last batsman giving Chesterfords the victory.

Young Liam Woodcock and debutant Rob Paskins helped the Chesterfords' Sunday side overcome Great Canfield.

With wickets falling due to good bowling and excellent fielding especially from debutant Paskins, Chesterfords restricted Canfield to 188-7 off their 40 overs.

Chesterfords began their chase with opener W Mughal (22) in aggressive mood racing the score on to 33 off the first five overs.

Mughal's opening partner Liam Woodcock (44 no) was the backbone of the innings scoring runs all round the park.

James Pullen (22), Paul Phillips (15), R Paskins (18) and W Jackson (30 no) allowed Chesterfords to reach their target with seven overs remaining.

Clavering narrowly missed out on their third successive win after being held by Sheering in a very tight game.

Batting first, Clavering struggled against Sheerings' opening bowlers who consistently beat the bat. Paul Miller reached 31 and then a solid middle order performance from Rob Gill, Ben Gill and Matt Graham paved the way for Scott Bates to top score with some powerful hitting at the end of the innings which totalled 181.

Sheering started well and with Oakes at the wicket looked well in control before Clavering's spinners took regular wickets to put the hosts in with a chance.

Skipper Mick Miller returned to his pace bowler Deifenthaller to clean up the tail, but last man Tom Waring denied Clavering with a brave defensive display.