Braintree’s First Eleven welcomed Copford to St Peter’s Road on Saturday unfortunately it was the visitors who returned home with a 4 wicket victory under their belts.
Chris Leech won the toss and elected to bat first however inside six overs the Dolphins found themselves 3 wickets down with only 20 runs on the board. Matt Renvoize (0) was first to fall as he edged Tom Helmer to James Bell in the slips, Chris Leech (10) then pulled Ben Lawson straight to Helmer on the mid-wicket boundary whilst 5 deliveries later Chris Hinks (4) feathered the ball to Dan Bell behind the stumps.
Bryn Powell and Josh Newman steadied the ship pushing singles and despatching loose deliveries to the boundary ropes, they put on 38 for the fourth wicket before Powell was adjudged LBW having scored 14. Rory Ainsley joined Newman at the crease and the pair continued in a similar vein. Newman has been in fine form since returning to the fold and after hitting a massive six he looked odds on in recording another half century, unfortunately when on 48 he got a leading edge and Adam Parker took a good catch.
Ainsley was looking comfortable and moved on to 25, however after hitting successive deliveries to the boundary he had his stumps dismantled by Jonny Blanke. Luke Gouldstone was also looking in good form hitting three big maximums, when on 31 though he was beaten by Helmer and found his stumps rearranged.
At this stage Braintree had only scored 142 for the loss of 7 wickets fortunately the combination of intelligent batting from Grace Poole and some wayward bowling pushed the total towards the 200 mark. As the Dolphins innings closed on 195, Poole remained unbeaten on 28 whilst Josh Paget recorded another “red inker”.
In reply Copford got off to a flyer putting 36 runs inside the opening 7 overs, visiting skipper Ian Catley took a particular liking to Josh Paget’s bowling, however when on 25 he edged a rising delivery from Luke Gouldstone straight into Matt Renvoize’s gloves. Sandeep Barot (4) hadn’t looked as comfortable and a few balls later Gouldstone had him trapped LBW.
Unfortunately for Braintree this only brought James Gallagher and James Bell to the crease and the pair put on 124 runs for the third wicket. In an attempt to stem the flow of runs Rory Ainsley was brought into the attack and the occasional bowler not only did so but broke the partnership as Gallagher having scored 53 got a leading edge and Andy Gowers took an excellent catch. Over the years Bell has regularly scored runs against the Dolphins and effortlessly moved on to 72, however Ainsley tempted him into a big hit only for Karl Parker to take a brilliant diving catch.
With Copford edging closer to the winning total Ainsley struck twice more having Dan Hill (4) and Tom Helmer (2) caught by Chris Leech and Josh Paget respectively. However, three boundaries in quick succession saw the visitors pass Braintree’s 195 with those 4 wickets to spare