Braintree’s 2nd XI fell to a 5th consecutive defeat at the weekend as they lost convincingly to the bottom side Bury St Edmunds III’s.
With pitch inexplicably being left covered until 20 minutes before the start, the toss was going to be vital and when stand in skipper Dave Hale lost it, it was going to be a tough opening on a very green and sweaty surface.
Hale and fellow opener Nick Lockhart got Braintree off to a good start with very contrasting innings. While Lockhart seemed to be getting the lions share of the balls that misbehaved and taking lots of balls to the body, Hale was able to find the boundary with regularity being particularly brutal to anything with width allowing his partner to soak up the pressure as the partnership grew. Hale passed 50 with a typical straight drive to the fence and it wasn’t long before the pair passed their second century stand of the campaign. At 107 though the game turned on its head as Hale was bowled, perhaps a little unfortunately as the ball cannoned off inside edge and then pad before crashing into the stumps. An entertaining 71 which contained 16 boundaries and an excellent foundation on which the away side could build, or so they hoped but wickets began to fall regularly as the new batsmen found it hard to get in with the ball now softer and sticking in the surface.
Matt Kent went for a duck as he was bowled by the off spinner Raj before Lockhart was caught for 31 to leave Braintree 115-3. Young Guns Joe Osborne and Adam Westall settled ship for a while until Westall shipped one in the air for 11 and following a couple of crisply struck fours, Ian Johnson was on his way back for 8. As the wickets were tumbling at the other end Osborne stayed composed and made his way to 31 not out but Braintree stumbled to 180 all out, disappointing after such a good start.
The game was not lost yet however and with some Gremlins in the pitch there was no reason why pressure could not be applied to the chase. The opening pair of Brad Bosman and Zayan Imam had other ideas though and Bosman in particular set about the Braintree seamers punishing anything that wasn’t challenging the stumps. With his partner dropping anchor and playing the supporting role Bosman had reached 99 at drinks and passed the century mark shortly after as they cruised to their target as the wicket dried and the margins for error became minimal. Dave Hale and Calley Foyster combined to slow the run rate and Hale took the wicket of Bosman for 108 but the result was inevitable as Imam finished unbeaten on 47 to see his side home.
With Worlingworth travelling to Braintree next up the Dolphins second string will be looking to recapture the form that saw them win 3 tricky games in a row back in late May and propel themselves out of the bottom 2.