Ilford Catholic fourth XI suffered a four-wicket defeat to South Woodham Ferrers at the weekend while the rest of the teams had their games washed out.

South Woodham Ferrers won the toss and Ilford Catholic were asked to bat first where openers Dave Hobbs and Vikas Sharma started cautiously.

Sharma fell first, trying to poke at a delivery that was moving due to the wind, assisted by a sharp catch by Adam Gold in the slips.

Abbas Gulam followed but was caught in the covers for three, before Mark Phillips started positively but was bowled for nine when a good ball nipped back in against the wind.

A good partnership between Hobbs and Ragesh Rangaswamy steadied the innings, with Rangaswamy eventually departing for 22.

The subsequent batting collapse reduced Ilford to just 100 all out, Dave Hobbs top scoring with 43. Young spinner Marcello Gold was the pick of the home bowlers with 3-13.

In reply South Woodham Ferrers lost their aggressive opener in the very first over attempting to sweep Khalid Rashid, who was on top form.

Ilford''s bowlers bowled tight lines and Khalid finished his brilliant spell with 1-15 in nine overs.

However, Geoff Cox played a superb innings assisted by skipper and opener Jason McGarry building a solid 76-run partnership.

Rangaswamy cleaned up McGarry for 12 but Cox continued to attack before he was finally bowled by Kuruvilla for 63.

For a moment, the visitors were back in the game and a late flurry of wickets brought some faint hope, along with some welcome bowling points.

However, the game was soon over when Joe Cox hit a six over long on and South Woodham Ferrers won by four wickets. Rangaswamy was the best of the bowlers with 2-10 in six overs.