Jon Dakin hit a quick 15 before Noble bowled him and Ashley Cowan had just 2 runs off his 3 balls faced before Ronnie declared for the 2nd time at 245-4 from 51.3 overs, leaving the students of Cambridge a seeminly impossible task of scoring a massive 477 to win the match.

And this never looked like being tested once Joe Grant ripped throught the top order with 4 of the first 5 wickets. He bowled Simcox and Cambridge captain Kumar, had Shankar lbw and had Parker caught by Dakin, while Dakin himself took the other wicket of the first 5, as Andy Flower took his first catch behind the stumps for Essex.

At 38-5 and then 60-6 after Cowan got Moyes caught by Grayson, Essex must have thought they'd wrap up victory around lunchtime, but Simon Marshall and Faisal Sharif had other ideas.

Together, they put on 128 for the 7th wicket to fustrate Essex and give the students outside hope of saving the match. Marshall, who took 6-128 in Essex's 1st inns, made an agonising 99 from only 139 balls with 14 fours; a great match for the 19 year old. As for Sharif, who did play for Ilford, he made 36 from 94 balls with 4 fours in the partnership, but he eventually went to Grant caught by Habib to at last for Essex break the resistance.

Then, without a further run added at 188-7, Marshall went lbw to Grayson for 99, as Larry finished things off with 3 quick wickets.

He took the last two after tea by bowling both Noble and Hughes and Cambridge were all out in their 2nd inns for 218 to give Essex a win by 258 runs.

Joseph Grant was the pick with an impressive 12-1-38-5 while Larry's 5.5 overs yeilded 3-21. The rest were slightly dissapointing, but we'll see how far we've come on Wednesday.