Braintree 2nd’s three match winning run came to a halt on Saturday as they fell short by 49 runs against unbeaten Abberton 2’s.
In the absence of skipper, and taker of all ten wickets the previous weekend, Andy Sherry, Himesh Patel joined Danny King opening the attack on another belter of a Panfield Lane wicket. Abberton batsmen Kevin Grant & Gregan Savill made the most of the perfect conditions, punishing any loose deliveries despite both being beaten on the outside edge on several occasions in the opening overs. With the outfield back to its usual fast pace, the opening pair soon raced past their half century opening stand at over six an over. Just two runs short of his half century, Grant skied a leading edge following a full delivery from King who completed the dismissal with a well judged catch. Savill soon followed, playing around his front pad and fell LBW to King for 40. Braintree were starting to get back into the game now, with a declining run rate and a further two quick wickets from Josh Paget who replaced Danny King. However, after a cautious start, Jason Newland and then Abberton Captain, Chris Pettit again upped the run rate during the final 15 overs, with Braintree not helping their cause with several dropped catches. With Pettit being particularly punishing on any loose deliveries, Abberton added over 120 runs in the final third of their innings, with both Newland and Pettit finishing unbeaten on 70.
Despite being set a winning target of 252, Braintree were still in confident in chasing down the total on a still excellent batting wicket. In the 2nd over however, after confidently cover driving Green to the boundary, Jamie Foyster tried repeating the shot but feathered a catch to the wicket keeper. Nick Lockhart then joined Dave Hale at the crease, who was looking to continue his fine form. In the 7th over, Hale struck Green for 5 successive boundaries to all parts of the ground. With fine support from Lockhart, Hale was again looking again in imperious form, and brought up his half century with a six over the square leg boundary. The pair soon brought up their century stand and at the drinks break looked to have put the home side in a strong position at 118-1. Shortly after however, the match turned, as Hale didn’t get the connection he wanted and was caught on the long off boundary to the relief of the Abberton players for 73. Matt Kent and Andrew Gowers soon followed and when Nick Lockhart fell for 40 with still over a 100 runs required, the match swung firmly in Abberton’s favour. Braintree never recovered, despite 25 from Adam Westall and 26 from Himesh Patel they eventually reached 200 and their final batting bonus point in the final over with their last pair at the crease