Colchester and East Essex bowler Ben Stephens has praised the club’s young players for their premier division form.

The likes of Jake Foley, Jack Hebron and Jack Crace have all made valuable contributions for the club, over recent weeks.

Foley claimed five wickets in Colchester’s draw with Upminster last weekend, while Crace scored a determined 38 not out.

Stephens, who claimed four wickets against Colchester, said: “Our young players are learning how to adapt their game very quickly for different wickets.

“It’s a steep learning curve for them at the moment but they’re doing well.

“Of all of the draws we could have had, this was one of the better ones.

“Upminster was always going to be a tough place for us to go.

“They’re an intimidating side who are hard to play against but I think they were a bit cautious against us.

“Upminster has one of those outfields where there can be a lot of boundaries.

“But we knew that if we could keep them at 300-odd, we might be able to chase the target.

“One of our young lads Jack Crace did really well to score an unbeaten 38.

“But it was tough - they had some very good spinners and in the end we took the draw.

“We got 11 points out of that and we also denied them some valuable bowling points in the process.”

Upminster made 354 for nine, with Foley (5-109) and Stephens (4-66) doing the damage.

Cameron Rule (66), Sam Weller (45) and skipper Joe Barnett (42) all made contributions.

Jack Crace (38 not out) was left unbeaten at the end, as Colchester finished on 288 for seven to share the spoils.

The following day, Colchester lost by 11 runs to Brentwood to bow out of the Dukes Twenty 20 competition at the quarter-final stage.

Brentwood made 128 for eight at Castle Park, with Foley (3-10) and Alex Young (3-23) claiming the majority of the wickets.

Hebron’s 35 from 28 balls looked like it might set up a successful run chase for Colchester, in reply.

But he received little support and aside from Young’s unbeaten 27, Colchester’s batters struggled and finished on 117.

Gareth Fisher (6-55) helped Colchester’s second XI (194) beat Woodford Wells (193) by four wickets, in the Shepherd Neame Essex League second XI premier division.

Glen Wheeler (51 no) and Kieran Dale (50) both scored half-centuries for Colchester.

There was also success for Colchester III (142), who beat Billericay III (129) by 13 runs in third XI division two, with Simon Gilhooly (55) top-scoring.