League leaders Copford visited Dunmow’s St Edmunds Lane on Saturday and secured a six-wicket victory.

It was always going to be a tough test for the hosts, especially as seven regulars were missing due to the wedding of a former player.

Despite that, Dunmow gave a brave performance and at times even dared to believe it could be a match-winning one.

Losing the toss and being asked to bat, Dunmow got off to an excellent start. Joe Gallant and Mark Barnes put on 66 for the first wicket, before Gallant fell.

Barnes went on to make 23, Tim Coupe (30), George Gallant (18), Mark Rosewall (30) and Ben Sedman (24) as Dunmow made 197, the highest score conceded by Copford all season.

Copford have rarely, if at all, needed to bat lower than five to secure victory this season.

However, when Jake Thompson dismissed Sinclair for a first ball duck, followed up by Matt Gibson’s dismissal of Catley, also for a duck, Copford were reeling at 4-2.

A decent stand of 70 between Caplikas (28) and Geddis (57) proved the foundation of the Copford victory.

Despite both falling to the bowling of skipper for the day Baz Sewell, Jamie Bell made 84 to guide the leaders to victory.