Wanstead captain Joe Ellis-Grewal is hoping his side can take a big step towards clinching another Hamro Foundation Essex League Premier Division title this weekend.

The Herons welcome bottom club Shenfield to Overton Drive, boasting a 41-point lead at the top of the table after a three-wicket win over defending champions Chelmsford.

And with nearest rivals Hadleigh visiting third-placed Brentwood as matches revert to the limited-overs format for the last four weeks of the season, Ellis-Grewal knows his side are within touching distance.

"On paper you'd think we'll get through them but Shenfield like playing well against us and I'm sure they will like nothing more than to put us under some pressure," he said.

"It will be nice to change formats back to limited overs and shorter games. It has been tough spending 60-plus overs in the field in this heat.

"We'll have three under-17s playing on Saturday. All have scored hundreds in the twos and I don't think many clubs are in that position.

"Haaris [Usman] has done really well in the twos and been patient and batted really well last weekend. He was unlucky to get out but it was nice to watch him.

"Ali Zeb has scored over 1000 runs in the twos and is averaging 90 and he's only 15 so gets his first go. And there are others averaging 50 or 60 so it's a nice problem to have at Wanstead."

Chelmsford captain Jack Sterland chose to bat first and put on 56 with opening partner Dan Hagen, until Yuvraj Odedra made the breakthrough.

The visitors then slipped to 104-7 as Kishen Velani (4-29) and Zain Shahzad (2-45) combined to good effect.

And they were eventually all out for 152 as Jahansher Akbar (2-17) added two more scalps to his season's haul.

Wanstead stuttered in reply and found themselves in some trouble at 69-6, before Haaris Usman (22) and Ellis-Grewal took them towards three figures.

And an unbeaten 58-run stand between Ellis-Grewal (29 not out) and Jonathan Das (36 not out) completed the successful run chase in the 50th over.

"It was great to get over the line in a pretty close game," added Ellis-Grewal.

"The wicket was pretty good with enough for the bowlers if they put it in the right spots.

"But if you got in, with the outfield so quick, you only had to beat the infield and it was four.

"Kish, Zain and Yuvraj bowled really well and didn't give them a lot. They had a couple of partnerships near the end but it was great to get them out for that total on what we thought was a 250 wicket.

"Our top order hasn't fired the last few weeks, we struggled at Hutton the week before when the middle and lower order rallied and it was the same on Saturday.

"At 69-6 we were struggling but 'Dasy' batted really well along with myself to get us over the line to an important win with four games to go."

Wanstead were without young batter Robin Das, who was on Royal London One-Day Cup duty with Essex and scored 19 off 14 balls against Derbyshire and 47 off 25 against Northamptonshire.

"It's brilliant to see Robin doing really well with Essex, it's exactly why we're here," said Ellis-Grewal.