Braintree's 2nd XI lost by 3 wickets in a closely fought encounter with Felixstowe in which momentum swung back and forth throughout the game.

Stand in skipper Dan King won the toss and, predictably, chose to bat first on a flat wicket with a very short boundary on one side and the opening pair of Nick Lockhart and Jamie Foyster were taking advantage in the early overs. Lockhart primarily played square of the wicket with well timed cuts and pulls while Foyster used the cover drive as his main scoring option. Both men kept the score ticking over and Lockhart was the first to reach his 50, hopefully the first of many for the season. Foyster then took the role of aggressor and soon reached his 50 as well to continue his fine form. Having put on 154 for the first wicket Foyster was the first to go as he missed a full toss and trapped lbw for 76 before Lockhart was bowled for 73 to leave the score on 162-2, a great foundation laid by the openers. Matt Kent and Dan king both played brief cameos before Hemesh Patel hit an explosive 32 off 16, including 3 sixes. Garner and Johnston came and went, before Adam Westall finished the innings off with 2 fours in the last over, finishing 16* along with Theo Sherry, who ended on 4*.
The final score was 276, a good one, but probably only about par for the surface.

The Felixstowe openers made a positive start, going at 8 an over in the early stages, before Josh Paget had Mark Parker caught at mid-on by Foyster after making 37. The second wicket fell in unusual fashion as a full toss from Patel made contact with both bat and pad before hitting the stumps, the batsman visibly frustrated with the dismissal. Leigh Garner and Theo Sherry then built pressure with accurate bowling and Garner profited, first having Sheldrake caught by keeper Kent and then causing Anderson to drag on to leave the visitors four down. A good partnership of 81 between Macleod (68) and Elliston (40) took Felixstowe within 50 of victory before Patel wreaked havoc, taking three quick wickets to swing the game back in Braintree’s favour. He Bowled Elliston, then had Macleod spectacularly caught at cover by Ian Johnston, before bowling Burrows to leave the score 238-7. However, it was not to be as Warne and Hunwicke saw them home, finishing on 20 and 14 respectively.

A tough one to take but some very good individual performances from the dolphins as well as 8 points gained means the efforts were not in vain. A long trip to Earl Stonham next week as we hope to get back to winning ways.