Wanstead 264-4 dec Loughton 183-8

Match drawn

(Premier Division)

WANSTEAD and Loughton had their first taste of the new Premier League format on Saturday when, despite playing for seven hours and bowling 135 overs, they still could not produce a result.

Loughton won the toss and invited Wanstead to bat. The invitation was gratefully accepted as the Richards brothers put on 77 runs for the first wicket before Alex was caught by Khan off the bowling of James.

Duncan Richards carried on steadily with Jon Hinton as his partner, before being joined by John Chambers.

His century looked to be there for the taking, but Richards eventually lost his share of the strike and fell to Watson when on 90.

Chambers raced on to his century, having faced 106 balls in 104 minutes before the home side declared. Loughton's bowlers stuck manfully to their task, with Auld being the most economical.

Loughton's reply started at an incredible rate with openers Colin Greenhill and Nick Carver putting on 107 in only 45 minutes. However, Chambers and Rory Ellison then removed the top six batsmen for a miserly 29 runs, and the game had swung back Wanstead's way.

Unfortunately for the home side, the seventh and eighth wickets were prepared to dig deep and held out for the last two hours to frustrate their opponents.

Wanstead take ten points and Loughton six to start their respective seasons.

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000.Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.