Braintree's young guns travelled to West Bergholt full of confidence after a convincing win over Great Totham in their last outing and skipper Lucas Hale had no hesitation in putting the opposition in when he won the toss.

Braintree made a great start when Danny Orr had Jake Smith caught in the covers by Corbyn MacLeod for 0 but that be the only wicket that would fall for the Dolphins until the last ball of the innings. Whilst they managed to keep Freddie Pinner (16*) in relative check, they were unable to restrict Josh Christie in the same way as he powered his way to 52 from 47 balls before he was asked to retire. In truth, with a very slow outfield, his innings was worth more than that and he certainly stood out as he punished Braintree's bowlers for dropping too short.

Despite the lack of wickets 115 was a chasable target but they needed their opening pair to get them off to good start as they did the week before. This wasn't to be as both were out identically, caught in the covers by Henry Eaton off of the bowling of Jake smith for 6. Will Gregory and Bertie Burnside set about recovering from the earl losses and both played with assurance in difficult batting conditions. Some learnings to take away from the game in terms of running thought as both of them, plus Zach Peacock, were run out trying to push the run rate, Danny Orr also played nicely for 7 before he was bowled by Josh Christie who also picked up the wicket of Jake Lee off of the final ball of the game to cap of an excellent all round performance.

A 41 run defeat but, as always, the boys carried themselves very well and took lots of positives from the game.