CLACTON carved out a convincing seven-wicket win over Saffron Walden on Saturday to take a big step towards safety in the Gibbs Denley East Anglian Premier League.

They got off to a great start when Ben France removed former England batsman Jason Gallian before there was a run on the board.

France kept up the good work to claim three for 33, while there were also top efforts from Vinny Desouza (two for 28) and Stefanus Gericke (three for 22) as the visitors were bowled out for 145 in 54.4 overs.

Clacton knew they just needed to avoid a batting collapse to overhaul that modest total and steady innings from Garth Davson (47), France (19), Martyn Cull (31 not out), George Brown (18) and Gericke (20 not out) saw them home with plenty of time and seven wickets in hand. It was only Clacton’s second win of the year, but it saw them move up a place to 10th in the table.

They are now 26 points clear of bottom team Norwich lost to Vauxhall Mallards.

Sudbury produced another good performance to have the better of a draw with Halstead.

Kandage Fernando scored 139 and Jay Phillips 61 for a big total of 274 for seven, with Tom Philp (three for 64), Amit Gupta (two for 30) and Matt Spatcher (two for 52) the successful bowlers for Halstead.

Josh Wells (33), Spatcher (42) and Matthew Surry (28) gave Halstead a solid reply, and Oliver Ekers made sure there were no panics with an unbeaten 41 as the home side replied with 185 for six.

Craig Smith was the best of the Sudbury bowlers, taking four for 39.

Bury St Edmunds slumped to a disappointing 34 run defeat at Great Witchingham. The home side got off the hook as Jonathan Spelman (22) and Sam Groves (29) added late runs at Nos. 9 and 10. That gave the home team a total of 183 with Mark Nunn and Tom Rash both taking three wickets.

Bury were all out for 149 with only Rash staying around for long with 42, Tom Huggins having scored 27 and Toby Adams 20.

Gibbs Denley East Anglian Premier League

Horsford 190 (64 overs: S Park 4 for 13). *Cambridge Granta 193 for 5 (53.3 overs: C Park 80, S Park 51no). Cambridge Granta (25) bt Horsford (8) by 5 wkts.

Saffron Walden 145 (54.4 Overs: N Gladwin 39, A Marjoribanks 36, J Barrs 22, S Gericke 3 for 22, B France 3 for 33). *Clacton 148 for 3 (35.3 overs: G Davson 47, M Cull 31no, S Gericke 20no). Clacton (25) bt Saffron Walden (2) by 7 wkts.

*Great Witchingham 183 (62.2 overs: S Groves 29, T Collishaw 24, J Spelman 22, Sam Arthurton 21, T Rash 3 for 34, M Nunn 3 for 52). Bury St Edmunds 149 (63.5 overs: T Rash 42, T Huggins 27, T Adams 20, C Rogers 3 for 21). Gt Witchingham (30) bt Bury (5) by 34 runs.

Sudbury 274 for 7 (64 overs: H Fernando 139, J Phillips 61, T Philp 3 for 64). *Halstead 185 for 6 (43.2 overs: M Spatcher 42, O Ekers 41no, J Wells 33, M Surry 28, C Smith 4 for 38). Halstead (8) drew with Sudbury (16).

Vauxhall Mallards 256 for 8 (65 overs: G Addicott 73, A Shearer 62). *Norwich 192 (51.5 overs). Vauxhall Mallards (30) bt Norwich (6) by 64 runs.

Burwell 84 (27.1 overs: G Walker 4 for 14). *Swardeston 85 for 6 (23.1 overs: T Afzal 5 for 35). Swardeston (25) bt Burwell (3) by 4 wkts.

* Denotes home team.