Braintree’s first XI suffered another heavy home defeat this time at the hands of Copford. For the second week running the batters at the top of the order failed to put runs on the scoreboard and victory was never a possibility.

Copford won the toss and elected to bat first and quickly lost their first wicket as Josh Paget found the edge of Russell Measor’s bat and Matt Renvoize took the catch behind the stumps. Ian Catley looked in good form striking five boundaries before he too was caught by Renvoize this time off the bowling of Luke Gouldstone. Keith Sargeant didn’t seem happy at the crease and Gouldstone soon had him trapped LBW for 12.

Jamie Gallagher had reached 15 when he faced Geoff Eveling’s first delivery and found his stumps dismantled as he was beaten all ends up. When Adam Parker (27) was caught behind off Himesh Patel and Robbie Tunn (3) was cleaned bowled by Robbie Spalding, Copford had been reduced to 149 for the loss of 6 wickets.

Tom Helmer was striking the ball cleanly and with Ben Rawson doing likewise at the other end the opposition’s score accelerated quickly. Helmer brought up his century with a massive six that almost cleared the Council Office and as Copford’s innings closed on 264 he was unbeaten on 115. Rawson also kept his wicket intact scoring 35. Disappointingly the Dolphins conceded 25 wides thus presenting the visitors with an extra 4 overs.

In reply Braintree got off to a disastrous start and never recovered. Teenager Joe Merritt claimed the wickets of the top four batters inside 3 overs without conceding a run off the bat, in truth he was assisted by some woeful strokes. Chris Leech, Dan Chalk and Chris Hinks were all out caught without troubling the scorers and Matt Renvoize was clean bowled for 9.

Geoff Eveling and Robbie Splading got their heads down and started a mini revival putting on 52 runs for the fifth wicket. However having scored 30, Eveling offered a simple catch to Sargeant off the bowling of George Monks. This season Spalding has been given the chance to bat much further up the order than previously and has shown that he is more than capable of scoring runs. Unfortunately, when on 23 he drove a delivery from Moriaty straight to Catley at mid off.

Luke Gouldstone came to the crease and played another controlled innings, blocking numerous deliveries and flicking the odd ball off his legs. Andy Gowers (0) and Glen Newham (4) failed to stay with him though and it was left to Himesh Patel to help Braintree past 100 and therefore gaining a batting point. Eventually when on 13, Patel got a little bored playing a straight bat and he found his stumps dismantled by Merrit.

Braintree’s innings came to a close when Gouldstone having scored 19 became Merritt’s sixth victim as he edged the ball to Parker behind the stumps. Josh Paget remained unbeaten (yet again) on 2