On a very cold and windy April day, it was the newly appointed 2nd team skipper Andrew Gowers who won the toss and elected to bowl first on what would predictably turn out to be a slow early season strip.

The Ipswich openers made a cautious start before Steve Smith spooned one up to the Braintree skipper at mid-on to give debutant Matt Childs a first Braintree wicket with the score on just 7. Himesh Patel, who was generating some good carry, then picked up a wicket as Tony Locke edged a beauty into the chest of keeper Arindam Gangopadhyay, who eventually managed to grasp hold of the ball. The Ipswich batsman slowly ticked it along until just after drinks when the skipper got in on the act, having a chance simply caught by Patel at cover. The left arm spin of Geoff Eveling then found a breakthrough as he cleaned up Matthew Porter for 2 and when Cooper tried to swipe across the line, he was caught by Childs at square leg for 2 to leave his side reeling at 62-5. There was one batsman who ground it out in the tough conditions, Steve Bumphrey, who made a patient 33 before Joe Osborne picked up his wicket, consistently bowling back of a length until the batsman decided he couldn't resist and skied one up to Rory Ciccarelli-Ainsley at mid-on. Parmenter also departed trying to up the run rate, Dave Hale having him caught at mid-off, again by Ciccarelli-Ainsley. Eveling picked up his third, Kristian Goodwin being trapped Ibw by a delivery that skidded into the pads and two run outs then wrapped up the innings. Osborne and the returning Guy Walton getting the ball into the bowler smartly to close the innings on 126 from the last ball giving the Dolphins maximum bowling points from an excellent performance.

The strong opening pair of Eveling and Hale came out to the middle looking to make an imposing start however, that was not to be the case as both went early on. Eveling departed for a duck, edging to Kristian Goodwin at first slip, who took a superb one-handed diving catch and Hale didn't last much longer as he chipped straight to Locke at mid-off for 2. Ciccarelli-Ainsley and Sherry then steadied the ship with a solid partnership of 41, before the former was run out having committed himself too far down after being dropped. Walton then managed to stick around with Sherry as he accelerated towards his half century after a slow start. Walton eventually fell, chipping to mid-wicket off the bowling of Locke for 2 and Osborne quickly came and went, Ibw for 1. Whilst wickets were falling around him Andy Sherry was going about his business at the other end with a superbly paced innings. Initially showing a level of patience not usually associated with a man who likes to score quickly, he dug in where it was necessary and once he got the feel for the pace of the track hit the accelerator with a flurry of boundaries, hitting 7 fours and 6 maximums in his 85 not out from just 76 balls. How Ipswich will be ruing missing the one (sharp) chance he offered before he had scored.

Overall, a great 5 wicket win for the dolphins and something to build on as they look for a promotion push this season.