Ilford Catholic Cricket Club first XI (210-2) triumphed over Stansted Hall & Elsenham firsts (207-4) on Saturday.

Opting to field first, John Rogers claimed the first wicket aided by a smart diving catch from Vince Mulholland.

Guru Shrinivasan kept the pressure on including taking a crucial wicket in the 17th over with the score on 82.

Vince Mulholland's spell of 9-2-22 kept the run rate in check and good fielding and accurate pace bowling from Adam Tanveer, Shrinivasan, and Punnasamy ensured boundaries were difficult to achieve.

In reply, opening batsmen Steve Ward (16) and Mohammed Zaman (89) scored quickly and the bowlers were soon under pressure.

Murali Vallat (83 not out) and Zaman took the team to the brink of victory and it fell to Tom Brady (10 not out) and Vallat to finish it off.

A desperately close finish at Barkingside saw the second XI (142-6) fall just short of victory, losing to South Loughton firsts (143-8).

Ravi Ramanuja managed to take four wickets, with Mayuran Thiru taking another two but South Loughton's Craig Scherer (33) and Aleef Hossain (24) put in a good batting performance.

In reply Ruhul Chowdhury (38) opening with Bala Rajagopal (13) made a steady start.

Sujen Sube (21) steadied the ship but the required run rate crept up, with Rajiv Manchanda (22) and Mayuran Thiru (18) taking the game to the wire with just seven required from the last over, but excellent bowling and fielding from South Loughton saw them home.

Ilford Catholic third XI (171-9) were defeated by Sawbridgeworth thirds (204-4).

Chris Scott (29), Martin Riches (43) and Louis Morgan (29) batted well but the side were always behind the required run rate.

The fourth XI (206-8) picked up a win against Hockerill seconds (179-5), with Andy Hudson (74) and Saurabh Penkar (28) getting their side off to an excellent start, while bowlers Venusharan Krishnakumar and skipper Sunny Kuruvilla conceded just 29 runs in the first 14 overs.