Braintree’s Under 11’s came up against an unbeaten Halstead side at Star style in a changed format, 10 aside / 20 overs, game
Having won the rock / paper / scissors duel, Braintree skipper Lucas Hale asked his opposite number to bat preferring to chase on what looked like a good wicket which would have some life early on.
It was Hale himself who opened the bowling with Callum McLeod and despite both bowler passing the edge regularly Halstead came in positive mood with Judge and Goodwin putting on 23 without loss for the first pairing. Gooding and Rayner came in for the second 4 but struggled to get away the accurate bowling of Zach Peacock and Henry Butler and although they didn’t lose any wickets, only added 9 runs taking the score to 32 from 8 overs. Cook and smith came out 3rd and found Will Sherry continuing his excellent form with the ball. His first over was a wicket maiden and he followed that with a double wicket maiden in his second! The 4th over of the pairing saw another wicket fall as Lucas Hale threw down the stumps from the boundaries edge to execute a magnificent run out and leave Halstead on 38 from 12. Marshall and Mayo came out for the 4th pair and they managed to accelerate the run rate with some excellent ball striking adding 38 runs without loss, Marshall dominating with 27 from 15 balls. The final pairing was Jones and Kiff and Braintree mixed up their bowlers as they searched for wickets. Will Sherry took a 4th wicket to return excellent figures of 3 overs, 2 maiden, 4 for 5 whist Corbyn MacLeod (2) and Lucas Hale (1) also took vital wickets as Halstead finished on a chasable score of 121-8 giving a net score of 281.
Braintree openers Will Sherry and Lucas Hale needed to set the tone of the innings and they surpassed the Halstead openers with a total 27. It was Sherry that dominated the pairing this time round as he hit 17 with a couple of nice fours to the square leg fence with Hale playing second fiddle although he did manage one of his trade mark drives over cover for his only boundary. Jake Lee and Corbyn MacLeod continued the excellent start by adding a further 24 for the loss of just 1 wicket with both batsmen looking solid and Lee striking a fine four through mid wicket. Henry Butler and Zach Peacock came in next and moved the core along nicely hitting 29-2 in their 4 overs thanks to some excellent running from both players. 82-3 was now the score, just 14 runs behind.
The 2 youngsters, Dylan Aziz and Finley Morgan, came in for the 4th pairing and performed admirably. With instructions from the skipper to try and defend with their lives they did just that and were unlucky to lose the only wicket of the pair with the first ball of their final over. So the final pairing of Elliott Partridge and George Martin at the crease the deficit was 4 but they had the 2 best bowlers in the Halstead attack to negotiate and that would prove a little to much for the Braintree lads as they lost 3 wickets for 8 runs. A great effort but lessons to be learned for the home game in terms of the batting order.
Despite being on the wrong side of a defeat the Braintree side performed excellently with some excellent bowling and fielding in particular and can take confidence into their next game at Sudbury on Monday 10th July