Essex League: Hornchurch beat Brentwood to clinch title

Their seven-wicket win at the Old County Ground left them 61 points clear of the hosts with only two games remaining and ensured captain Billy Gordon would bring the crown back to Harrow Lodge for the first time since their memorable treble in 2018.

Gordon won the toss – yet again – and put Brentwood into bat, but saw opposite number Aaron West and Ed Ballard put on 54 for the first wicket.

West (28) then fell to Gordon and Gavin Griffiths dismissed Thomas Moore cheaply, before Ballard (38) succumbed to Jalpesh Vijay to leave the home side 77-3.

Jack Hebron (25) and Thinod Balage (21) shared 46 for the fourth wicket, only to fall in quick succession to Vijay and Adeel Malik.

And Malik (3-46) struck twice more, before club stalwart Marc Whitlock also got in on the act as Brentwood closed on 182-8.

Hornchurch, without Paul Murray, saw Vijay and Jamie Sorrell make starts before both fell to Moore (2-29) to leave them 38-2.

Lesbourne Edwards and George Hankins then shared 115 for the third wicket, before the latter fell for 61 off 69 balls, caught by Ballard off the bowling of Hebron.

That allowed skipper Gordon to join Edwards in the middle and the pair steered Hornchurch to their target with 12 overs to spare.

Edwards hit three sixes and nine fours in his unbeaten 68 from 98 balls, with Gordon adding a dozen runs at the other end before the celebrations started.

Hornchurch visit Hornsey in the semi-finals of the Conference Cup on Sunday.

Hutton maintained their hold on fifth place with a 71-run win at relegation-threatened Chingford.

And James Grady was their star performer with bat and ball as he hit four sixes and 15 fours in a 90-ball 127.

Grady put on 109 with Alex Tredgett (33), after Hutton had slipped to 120-6, with Joel Hussain (30) and Benjamin Parry (32) making earlier starts as they closed on 286-9.

The hosts reached 120-1 and looked well set at 171-4, but they lost four wickets for seven runs and were eventually dismissed for 215.

Grady (3-36) was the pick of Hutton’s bowling, with Tredgett (2-32) and Joseph Parry (2-36) nabbing braces.

Wanstead were also celebrating a win after beating third-placed Colchester by five wickets at Overton Drive.

The visitors chose to bat but were reduced to 30-3 by Zain Shahzad (2-18) and Kishen Velani.

Joseph Austin (92) and Ben Robinson (55) put on 127 for the fourth wicket, but it was slow going as Yuvraj Odedra (3-40) and Ali Zeb (2-15) struck and Colchester closed on 179-8.

Tom Simmons (35) and Haaris Usman (39) put on 63 in reply, after the early dismissal of Shahzad, with Velani (28) keeping the Herons on track, before Odedra saw them home.

Odedra hit three sixes and three fours in his unbeaten 44 from 38 balls as victory was secured with 17 overs remaining.