Dunmow took a significant step towards league safety with victory against Long Melford.

However, they will have to wait until the last round of games and maybe beyond to be sure of safety due to the possibility of three teams being relegated.

Losing the toss and being inserted looked like a tricky prospect but the clean striking of Nick Kesingland (46 from 27 balls) in an opening partnership of 64 with Joe Gallant (27) got Dunmow off to an excellent start

A score of 76-2 was as good as it got for Long Melford though as Ollie Rooney and Paul Reid set about building a match-winning partnership.

Tom Barnard (1-65) and Bill Byford (1-50) kept it tight for a while, but Reid and Rooney picked off bad balls and rotated the strike, taking 57 from the last eight overs.

Both men finished not out, Reid with 85 and Rooney with 66 to post an imposing 228-2 at tea.

Dunmow kept it tight from the off, while also picking up wickets fairly regularly, and after 14 overs the score was 34-2 with both Matt Gibson (1-36) and Jake Thompson (1-8) building pressure on the batsmen.

This pressure was maintained, so that later batsmen had to take more risks – but Dunmow dropped Wade twice off the bowling of Sewell on his way to 50 before he was bowled by Josh Rix.

Rix also claimed the wicket of Harvey to finish with 2-22 but it was Kesingland who benefitted the most, claiming 3-4 as Long Melford closed on 153-8.

This weekend Dunmow travel to Haverhill, and need a better result than Ipswich to remove any doubts about their league status for next season.