Braintree CC’s 2nd XI continued their unbeaten streak with a three wicket win over promotion rivals IPSCOL, with the margin of victory making the game look much closer than it truly was in the end.

A pair of Sherry’s, Theo and Andrew, opened the bowling for Braintree and both kept it tight early on, the first wicket falling with only 1 on the board, the league's top run scorer, Sachin Devaiah, edging to Jeremy Hollingsworth off the senior Sherry’s bowling. At first, he refused to walk, but the umpire eventually raised his finger. He quickly picked up two more wickets, one bowled and the other well caught by the reliable hands of Guy Walton. The skipper then got in on the act as Andrew Gowers bowled Kishor Kumar Sadhak with a drag on, before Andrew Sherry picked up his fourth with a beautiful in-swinging delivery, to which Shani Ranjan shouldered arms. Sherry could not manage a fifth wicket, but a magnificent spell of 12-5-17-4 nonetheless. The skipper added another via a simple catch from Charlie Garner at mid on. This left the score at 30-6, and it quickly became 30-7 as Mukesh Kumar also dragged on off of Gowers’ bowling. The returning Joel Ainsley bowled with admirable consistency at the other end, and eventually got his reward as he ended a partnership of 47 via a good catch over his shoulder from Dave Hale. Another frustrating partnership of 33 took Ipscol past 100, but the innings was soon wrapped up by Geoff Eveling and Theo Sherry, the later finally rewarded for a typically economical spell of bowling. The home side finished on 112, theoretically a simple enough chase for The Dolphins.

The opening pair of Dave Hale and Nick Lockhart took a patient approach early on, with the home side having three LBW appeals on Hale turned down in the second over, all however struck him way outside the line and were rightly turned down. Lockhart negotiated a few overs before he was bowled attempting a pull shot with the score on only 6. Hale was unfazed at the other end and continued to find some rhythm while Eveling bedded in but his innings didn’t last long as he chopped on attempting to cut. Jeremy Hollingsworth was at 4 and was the able foil Hale needed to push the chase forward, and together they out on a partnership of 50, Hollingsworth contributing 19 before being bowled by Sadhak. Hale was nearing 50, and after Walton came and went, he brought up another half century, his third of the season. Next ball he was bowled attempting a big shot, but a valuable innings in a tricky chase against some tight bowling. Andrew Sherry took the dolphins within one run of victory with three quick boundaries before Gowers and Charlie Garner both fell in consecutive balls. The winning run was hit by the Theo Sherry in the end after surviving the hattrick ball.

Another great win for Braintree as they go 10 points clear at the top of the table with a game in hand over IPSCOL, thoughts of promotion now a very realistic possibility for the dolphins. They will hope to continue their unbeaten start to the season at home to Boxted this coming Saturday