Braintree's Under 13's continued their development journey with a close fought defeat at the hands of Coggeshall.

Having won the toss and elected to bat on a flat looking deck Braintree set about the Coggeshall openers with some confidence. Both Theo Sherry and Joe Chaplin hit early boundaries at they moved comfortably to 25 before Chaplin was caught at square leg off the bowling of Eliza Fairs for 9. Will Sherry lost his off stump to Charlie Green for 3 as he looked to make room for himself on the off side and having looked to be positive early on Luke Huckson played one shot too many and saw his timber disturbed for 11 from 9 balls to leave Braintree on 59-3 from 12 overs. Sherry and Lucas Hale consolidated for a couple of overs before looking to cut loose but in doing so the former was caught on the square leg boundary by Jake Barrow for 23 to give Leo Wade a well deserved wicket. Joey Blackwell then bowled Hale (12) and Zach Peacock (0) as Braintree stumble to 87 for 6 in their 20 overs.

Early wickets were required and they certainly came as Coggeshall were reduced to 11-4 from the first 3 overs of their reply. First Theo Sherry burst through the defenses of Aiden Rata (0) before Lucas Hale held onto a sharp chance at square leg to give Danny Orr the wicket of Eliza Fairs for 1. Sherry then bowled Leo Wade and Charlie Green, both for ducks, in his 2nd over and Braintree were well on top. Sherry finishing his 2 overs with impressive figures of 3 for 1, it needed some cool Coggeshall heads to halt the slide. Enter Max Saffer and Harry Smith who rotated the strike brilliantly during a match winning stand of 70. Saffer eventually lost his middle pole to Luke Huckson but Smith steered his side home with an excellent unbeaten 36.

Another hard fought game for the Junior Dolphins but lots of positives to take again as they enjoy a 2 week break ahead of their next fixture.