Braintree Cricket Club’s First Eleven welcomed Woolpit to St Peter’s Road on Saturday knowing that a victory would more than likely move them out of the relegation zone of Division 2. From the first ball bowled to the final one, every one of the Dolphins put in 100% effort resulting in a victory by 4 wickets. Other results went Braintree’s way, meaning that 7 bonus points against bottom of the table Little Bardfield will ensure safety.
Chris Hinks won the toss and invited the visitors to bat first and his decision was vindicated as two wickets were taken inside the opening 6 overs. Dan Loveless (15) was first to fall as he drove Robbie Spalding straight to Grace Poole then Merlin Stamper (1) was beaten by the pace of Luke Gouldstone.
John Turner and Alex Packer then put on 60 runs for the third wicket before the former having scored 28, edged a delivery from Josh Paget to Louis Cant in the slips. Packer was finding the boundary with regularity and reached his half century with another four, however Cant tempted him with a looping delivery and Dan Chalk took what for him was a regulation catch.
Woolpit’s Skipper, Stuart Lilley took a liking to the Braintree bowling as he quickly moved on to 48. Having just hit his fifth maximum (losing 5 balls in the process) he was beaten by Grace Poole and found his stumps dismantled. Conor Berry had moved on to a scrappy 25 when he was run out by direct throw from Gouldstone.
The opposition’s tail was ripped apart as Braintree claimed the final 6 wickets for just 32 runs. Marcus Packer (0) snicked Gouldstone into Matt Renvoize’s gloves, Will Harrison (10) was caught by Gouldstone off Poole, and she then clean bowled Rob Gibson (4) before Hinks had Harry Jaggard (10) caught by Gouldstone. To make matters worse Woolpit conceded 5 penalty runs for persistently run on the wicket. All the Dolphin’s bowlers claimed wickets as the visitors were all out for 232.
Replying Chris Hinks and Matt Renvoize with the help of 24 extras, got off to an excellent start putting on 76 runs for the first wicket. Unfortunately, having scored 19, Renvoize got a leading edge and Lilley took a catch off the bowling of Packer. Hinks had got off to a slow start, he eventually got going though and reached his half century with a fine cover drive, however, when on 54 he was deceived by a slower delivery from Lilley and was caught by Harrison.
Louis Cant continued his good form of late finding the boundary ropes on 8 occassions with some exquisite shots, he moved on 40 off just 25 balls but he became Lilley’s second victim as he was caught by Stamper. Unusually, Josh Newman struggled to score runs and was caught by Packer off the bowling Stamper after scoring just 4. Bryn Powell (10) struck a big six but he was then also caught by Packer, this time Lilley was the bowler.
Dan Chalk was also in impressive form, striking 3 sixes as he reached 32 off only 24 deliveries, unfortunately he was caught by Berry off the bowling of Lilley. Requiring just 38 runs for the much needed victory and with 4 wickets in hand, unlike previous weeks Braintree easily got over the finishing line with sensible batting from Rory Ainsley (18) and Robbie Splading (20).
As news filtered through that both Elmstead and Haverhill had suffered heavy defeats, only a disastrous performance by the Dolphins in the final game of the season will see them relegated.