FRINTON captain Kyran Young and his team made the statement he wanted with a winning draw at Ashlyns Road over title-contenders Copdock and Old Ipswichian.

After losing the toss and being asked to bat first in the Gibbs Denley East Anglian Premier League contest, Frinton were in trouble when opener Michael Griggs was dismissed by Copdock skipper Tom Rash for five.

With fellow opener Murray Commins in fine touch at the other end, Rash then removed David Brent with a superb diving catch for five and had Matt Foakes caught behind for a duck.

Mervyn Westfield then arrived to offer support and the pair put on a 69-run fourth-wicket partnership, until Commins was judged caught in a controversial decision when it appeared the ball might not have carried.

Captain Young then arrived at the crease and put on a 61-run partnership with Westfield, until the former Essex man was caught in the deep for 63.

Young held his bat as Frinton reached 302 for six in their allocated overs, with Rash being the pick of the Copdock bowlers with three for 82.

Copdock were faced with a daunting total but unable to get traction, with a steady loss of batsmen who all got starts but failed to push on.

With seven wickets shared among the Frinton bowling attack, it was youngster Harry Nightingale who caught the eye with two for 39.

Inevitably, Copdock shut up shop and batted out for a draw to finish on 238 for seven, which saw Frinton pick up 19 points to Copdock's nine.

Afterwards a delighted Young praised his team and said: "The spirit running through this young team is fantastic and we're playing some really entertaining cricket.

"While we're a way off being title contenders, we're capable of competing with the best and are developing some exciting young cricketers."

Meanwhile, at Coggeshall, Frinton second-team captain Lewis Catlow was left disappointed at a number of dropped catches from his team in their Two Counties Championship division one defeat.

Having been asked to bowl first, Frinton’s promising seamer, Ed Ball, grabbed a couple of wickets while the experienced Jermaine Shillingford’s bowling fell victim to a series of dropped catches.

Coggeshall reached 248 for eight off their 50 overs.

Frinton started brightly in reply, with Alex Price hitting a number of boundaries before Coggeshall skipper George Blackwell dismissed him for 18. Australian Joey McDevitt was unlucky when a blocked ball rolled on to his stumps to dismiss him for 43.

Skipper Catlow and Rob Everson put on a 50-run partnership and there were more runs from Dom Stockdale and Jermaine Shillingford at the end of the innings.

Frinton finished on 213 - 36 runs short.

This was a good effort but the team were left wondering what might have been had they held their chances in the field.

Frinton's first team travel to Burwell on Saturday while the second team host Worlington at Ashlyns Road on Saturday in a fixture which starts at 1pm.