Maz Malik believes his side fell victim to the rulebook against Colchester & East Essex

Ilford 222 all out lost to Colchester & East Essex 97-5 by five wickets

Ilford skipper Maz Malik was left a frustrated man after the net run-rate system saw his side beaten by Colchester & East Essex on Saturday.

Ilford built up a good score of 222 all out after 48.5 overs, with Malik and Nigel Jacobs top-scoring with 59 runs apiece.

Babu Veetil and Abir Chippa contributed 30 and 28 runs respectively as the visitors did well with the bat.

However, with play interrupted by a heavy rain shower, Colchester & East Essex could only score 97-5 from 21.1 overs, but it was deemed enough to win the match.

And Malik was left disappointed with the outcome – and also won some sympathy from the Premier Division chairman who just happened to be playing for the opposition.

Malik said: “We were robbed. The rules are something of a mockery, but they are what they are.

“The Duckworth-Lewis method is generally considered the fairest way of working these things out and on that basis Colchester would have been 26 runs short.

“But under the net run-rate system they were two runs ahead of their target.

“I was talking to Andrew Kennedy, the chairman of the Premier Division who plays for Colchester – and he admitted that it seemed unfair.

“Our net run-rate was 4.44 and they simply needed to better that – and that’s a lot easier to do over 21 overs than it is over 50.

“They need to change the rules and I hope they will at some stage.”

With Ilford sitting 40 points clear of second-bottom Woodford Wells with just two matches remaining, they are as good as safe and are now hoping to finish the campaign on a winning note.

Malik said: “We need one point to be sure, but we’ll try to win both games and see where that takes us at the end of the season.”