Braintree Cricket Club’s First Eleven’s latest Two Counties Division Two fixture saw them travel along the A120 to take on Copford. With the heavy rain that had fallen during the previous two days and also by the look of it the wicket hadn’t been covered, the game was in doubt up until an hour or two before the scheduled start time. However, after an inspection by the umpires it was agreed that things should go ahead albeit with reduced overs and an hour’s delay.
Chris Leech lost the toss and unsurprisingly was invited to bat first on the very wet wicket and an outfield that had its long grass rolled rather than cut. As expected in the early stages it was a struggle to get the ball away and in attempting to score runs both Chris Leech (2) and Geoff Eveling (0) were out caught at backward point.
Braintree recovered as Matt Renvoize and Chris Hinks patiently put together a partnership as they managed to add the odd single amongst numerous dot balls. It was rarely that they managed to find the boundary however, as more often than not the ball refused to roll on the sodden outfield. The pair had put on 70 runs for the third wicket, when Renvoize having scored 24 got a top edge and was caught by Barot. Unfortunately, Hinks was soon returning to the pavilion too as he was caught by Orchard for 26.
The Dolphins lost two more quick wickets as Bryn Powell was adjudged LBW for 7 and Rory Ainsley was run out for 8. With only 4 overs remaining Braintree found themselves having lost 6 wickets for just 118 runs. Copford brought their opening bowlers back into the attack, however, Dan Chalk and Robbie Spalding went on the offensive depositing the ball to all corners of the ground as they put on a quick fire 45 runs. Chalk hit 3 towering sixes as he remained unbeaten on 42, whilst Spalding kept his wicket intact too scoring 21. From their allotted overs Braintree accumulated 163, a total that was also helped by the home side conceding 27 wides!
With the wicket and outfield now showing signs of drying out, Copford got off to a reasonable start to their innings. However, Spalding trapped Barot LBW and Joel Ainsley had Sargeant caught by Bryn Powell. The home side were still looking comfortable though, but Chris Leech had his counterpart Ian Catley given out LBW for 44.
Having seen Chalk go on the offensive earlier Bell decided to do likewise and put Copford on the cusp of victory. In the gathering gloom Luke Gouldstone and Robbie Spalding were brought back into the attack and claimed 3 wickets when the scores were level. Helmer drove Spalding straight to Chris Leech and having scored 62, Bell edged Gouldstone into Matt Renvoize’s gloves. Hatfield then had his stumps demolished by Gouldstone, but it was too little, too late as Geddes edged the winning runs.
Despite losing by 4 wickets, Braintree were reasonably please with their performance with Copford taking full advantage of the odd loose delivery and even more so by winning the toss