Colchester and East Essex slipped to fourth place in the Shepherd Neame Essex League first division after a heavy defeat at the hands of leaders Chelmsford.

They were put into bat on a wicket of uneven bounce.

However, both Simon Wild (42) and John Butcher (17) profited from some wayward bowling.

With the score at 66 for one, Colchester were in a good position but a number of rash shots in the middle order, along with some variable bounce, meant they collapsed to 99 all out from 42.3 overs.

Chelmsford were immediately struggling as Nick Gibbs and Tim Spelling bowled an excellent line and length to reduce them to 40 for three in the 15th over.

However, ex-skipper Iliffe and current skipper Fergus steered Chelmsford to a comfortable seven-wicket victory.

The clubs' sides also clashed in the 2nd XI first division. Jamie Oxborrow top-scored with 82 in Colchester's 217 for six.

But in a nail-biting finish, Chelmsford's last pair clung on - just missing out on victory as the match was drawn.

Despite the efforts of Chris Woodward (4-53) and Anthony Gibby (3-76), Chelmsford finished on 212 for nine.

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