The under 11s terriers side had the first game of the season on Thursday (1st June), starting at home against a tough Sudbury side. This year, they venture into the season with a newly elected captain, Lucas Hale. Our mini Dolphins were looking for their first win to start of the season strong, having won the league for the previous 2 seasons.
Our thriving youngsters won the toss and elected to field first. Captain Hale, opened the bowling, coming up against the talented Jack Batch and Jack Bennett, who we knew from playing last season, were a strong pair. However Hale, alongside his bowling opener Zachary Peacock, were able to keep it tight, only allowing the opening pair to hit 11 runs off their first four overs. Following this, the bowling only progressed bringing in three wickets over the next four overs, two from George Wedge, and one from Elliot Partridge, all bowled. The run rate was held down brilliantly by their demon fielding, keeping the score under control, and taking three more wickets before the end of the innings. Oliver Philp dug in for Sudbury, hitting the games first 4, and his team mates George Nelson and Arthur MacDonald finished the innings for the Sudbury side strong with 238, runs as their final total.

Braintree’s skipper and the older Peacock brother Zachary then opened the batting, matching the oppositions total, of 11 runs in their first 4 overs. This was a strong start for the Dolphins however, with the loss of a few wickets over the next few overs, it meant the following batters had to work hard for their final total. Each Sudbury bowler had something new to bring, collecting one wicket per bowler; Arthur MacDonald again, bowling well with figures 1-4 off his two overs. The final batting pair, Jake Lee and Bertie Burnside needed 18 runs to win off the last 4 overs. Knowing the bowlers would be strong they elected a defensive approach, waiting for the bad balls. Jake Lee hit an big 11 runs, with Burnside supporting his batting with a good 5, but even with some added extras, with the loss of a two wickets in the final over, it brought them 3 runs short of the final total.
An unfortunate loss with a great nail-biting finish. Both teams played brilliantly, so many positives to come from it, the encouragement throughout was epic, and not once, did they stop working hard, great effort shown till the end. Well done all!