LOUGHTON I ..........................174 all out

BILLERICAY I..................................175-1

(Billericay won by nine wickets)

(Shepherd Neme Essex League)

Billericay strengthened their position in the upper reaches of the Shepherd Neame Essex League with an emphatic victory over lowly Loughton on Saturday.

The die was cast early on as having won the toss, skipper Ian Pont promptly asked the visitors to bat and then removed two of the key batsmen with just 26 runs on the board, a position from which Loughton struggled to recover.

Indeed of their top order only Waton (37) made much of an impression, and it was only when Pont decided to give some of his occasional bowlers a whirl, in preparation for coming weeks when holidays will change the make-up of the side, that Lougton's batsmen were able to set a total of any great merit.

The tail wagged for the visitors as numbers 9,10 and 11 all got in on the act as 106 for seven was converted into an all out score of 174, Courtney (30), Wiseman (16 n.o) and Laird (13) all putting their top order colleagues to shame.

For Billericay, the bowlers shared the wickets around although notable where the returns of Pont (2-16) and Jon Walford (2-9).

The Billericay innings made an inauspicious start with Walford being run out, but this just served to bring Danny Law to the crease and in partnership with Richard Swile quickly put the result beyond doubt as they plundered the Loughton bowling.

They completed the victory in an unbeaten partnership of 156 scored in just 68 minutes with Law being particularly severe on the bowling.

He finished with 101 not out, 78 of which was made in boundaries (15 fours and three sixes) and he faced a mere 63 balls.

At the other end Swile made a fine 52 not out from 64 balls, hitting seven fours and a six.

This win keeps Billericay hot on the heels of leaders Saffron Walden and they will be looking for another win as they travel for the first time in three weeks when they visit Hainault & Clayhall on Saturday.

Converted for the new archive on 19 November 2001. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.