Braintree’s second string suffered an agonising defeat against high flying Abberton in a game where neither team was on top for long periods.
Having won the toss and bowled skipper Andrew Sherry drew first blood as he reduced Abberton to 14-2 when he removed the leg stump of Chris Southernwood for 10 and then caught the inside edge of Gregan Savill’s bat to give Mark Osborne a simple take behind the stumps. After a bright partnership Danny King intervened as he bowled Davies for 8 before Theo Sherry combined with Joe Osborne twice to remove Newland (6) and Lingard (13) – the latter of the 2 being a very sharp catch at cover. As the wickets fell at one end Nick Allflatt was holding firm at the other and punishing anything loose but Tom Urquart’s introduction into the attack ended his resistance as he was trapped in front for 57 from 55 balls.
Dave Hale then entered the attack and, whilst he struggled to find a consistent length, took 3-38 in a topsy turvy spell. Joe Osborne took an excellent juggling catch on the mid-wicket boundary to see the back of Kevin Smith for 23 before he bowled both Chapman and Booker before they had registered. Frustratingly for the Dolphins, the final pair put on 29 before Kind again uprooted the timbers as he bowled Nathan Cobb for 19 – Abberton had posted 198 in 41.1 overs.
Braintree knew the importance of a good start but what happened couldn’t have been more opposite as they slumped to 14-4. Form batsmen Nick Lockhart went to the 2nd ball of the innings as nicked behind for 0 to give the home side their ideal start and the opening pair of Chris Petite and David Booker done a fine job of keeping it tight and letting the variables in the wicket do the work for them. Having struggled for timing Dave Hale was caught at slip off his glove and with his next ball trapped Osborne LBW for 0. Jamie Foyster’s resistance was also ended by Pettit, who took the first 4 wickets, as he nicked behind for 5.
14-4 became 33-5 as Urquart was bowled by Nathan Cobb for 5 and when Lee Fullgrabbe fell to Saville for 15 Braintree were in deep trouble at 69-6. Skipper Andrew Sherry and Danny King were not ready to give up the fight and with the run rate far from out of reach started to consolidate the innings. With Sherry being brutal on anything short and King playing some lovely drives they took the score past 100 and then with the score on 138 and victory well within reach disaster struck as Sherry suffered a horrible calf injury whilst attempting to run a leg bye. It was clear from his reaction that he was in a lot of pain and would not be able to carry, Abberton had got a stroke of luck and it would ultimately win them the game. Whilst King continued to finish on 33 not out the rest of the line up fell as David Booker mopped up the tail to see them home. Booker finished on 3-19 from 11.2 overs while Chris Pettit 4-24 from 12 – lessons for the Braintree bowlers to be learned from these 2.