Braintree CC's 2nd team picked up a first win of the season with a 16 run win at home to Melton St Audry’s in a tough fought match which hopefully kickstarts the campaign.

With a slightly damp outfield and a sticky pitch, the Braintree skipper Andrew Sherry was desperate to win the toss and bowl first, however things did not go Braintree’s way and they were asked to bat first in bowler friendly conditions. The opening pair of Jamie Foyster and Dave Hale batted with composure in the opening 10 overs, moving the score along to 33 before Hale was caught at point for 20. The second wicket fell almost immediately as Matt Kent was pinned lbw without troubling the scorers and when youngsters Joe Osborne and Charlie Garner both quickly came and went without adding much to the total, Braintree were in a precarious position at 54-4. While chaos was ensuing at the other end, Jamie Foyster was patiently crafting an innings and along with Andrew Sherry, started to build a solid partnership, the two batters complementing each other well. Sherry took advantage of some loose bowling in his usual aggressive fashion while Foyster continued to ooze calmness at the crease. The pair took the score past 100 before Sherry failed to capitalise on a short wide ball, chipping it to point when he would have expected to see it speeding to the fence. The big hitting Lee Fullgrabe added more impetus to the innings with a couple of huge maximums, but after he was caught behind the wickets started to fall regularly with Foyster eventually falling for 46 to a catch in the deep. On a tricky surface, those were valuable runs which kept Braintree in the game. The innings was wrapped up pretty quickly in the end as the last 4 wickets fell for just 12 runs, Braintree bowled out for exactly 150 in 41 overs.

Although the score was slightly below par, with a strong bowling attack and a shallow opposition batting lineup, the home side knew they were in the game. After some consistent bowling and patient batting, the first wicket fell as Daniel King had Conor Crowley caught at point by Milo Edwards, his first catch for the club on his home debut. Eddie Green and Chris Furmston steadily accumulated and moved the total to 57 but the introduction of Josh Paget broke the partnership and turned the game on its head. After surviving a chance behind the wicket Paget got his man when Furmston was brilliantly caught one handed by Dave Hale, a long way down for the big man. Adrian Smith was next to the crease and he started to build another partnership with Green before he seemingly became frustrated with the lack of boundaries and attempted to up the scoring rate with some ambitious shots. In the end he went for one big shot too many on a pitch that was still a little slow and he was he was well caught at mid off by Karl Parker giving another wicket for Paget. Soon after, he had another and this time it was the key wicket of Green, as he flashed one to slip where Foyster showed great reactions to pouch the catch at the second attempt and Braintree were starting to grab a hold of the game. A combination of tight bowling and sharp ground fielding put immense pressure on the visiting batters as the next two wickets fell in very similar fashion, both caught by Milo Edwards at backward point off the bowling of Paget. A well deserved five wicket haul and a fantastic performance from the Rotherham express but he wasn't finished there as he picked up a sixth when Jothi Barnsley-Sadasavan was caught in the same position, this time by Hale. It then became desperate for Melton as the run rate increased , and the pressure told as Dave Hale breached the defences of Shorten, before draper was run out in the final over by Daniel king, who seemed to have an age to dislodge the bails. It could have been a maximum point win but for a couple of late drops, but nevertheless it was an extremely spirited fielding effort which hopefully sets the tone for the rest of the season.

Paget was the undoubted star of the show with his outstanding 6-30 , but all the bowlers showed great control and built pressure as a unit to squeeze the visitors. Braintree will hope to continue their winning ways as they face Woodbridge in another home match next week