STANFORD-le-Hope suffered a six-wicket defeat at Old Brentwoods to leave them seventh in the table.

The visitors were bowled out for 162 in 50 overs with Robert Page top-scoring with 45 runs.

Thomas Willats (20), Jack Carter (18) and Martin Leslie (17) chipped in against an attack led by K Sarwar (3-33).

Stanford made a good start with the ball claiming the opening batsmen cheaply, but that brought Wade Canham (62) and Baber Choudhary (61) to the crease and they set up the win.

Despite Adam Knight taking 2-33 and Greg Barr and Matthew Higgins getting a wicket each, Rajinish Dohal and Sarwar were unbeaten as they secured a winning 166-4 in 25.1 overs.

Stanford skipper Matthew Page said the fact it started raining as his team took to the field did not help matters but he’s not too disappointed with the start to their season following relegation last year.

“We’ve made an average start to the season with a good home win and a couple of away defeats,” he said.

“Unfortunately, we haven’t got an overseas player this year and we are a little bit short of numbers but hopefully by the middle of the season we should be up and running properly.

“The aim is to be promoted but we have some young players so the important thing is to bring them through. We are going to be positive in our approach and I’m not downhearted with how things are going.”

Stanford face third-placed Westcliff-on-Sea on Saturday and Page admitted it was a step into the unknown for his team.

"I think we are both in a similar situation because we've spent the last few years in the division above and don't know much about their current team," he said.

"However, Westcliff have always been historically a good team so it will not be an easy game.

"But it only takes one player to have one of those good games and anything can happen. We will just take every game as it comes and see what happens."