After 3 consecutive defeats in the opening games, Braintree were hopeful that the first win would come at the hands of East Bergholt who the Dolphins had beaten at the end of last season to confirm the league title.
The sun was shining with perfect cricketing weather when stand in Captain Newman lost the toss. East Bergholt opted to bat first which Braintree were happy with as the plan was to stick them in anyway, in a bid to pick up full bowling points. Things didn’t go to plan from the start for Braintree as East Bergholt raced to 50 in the opening partnership with George Foster playing aggressively against Atkins and Newman despite giving multiple chances which Braintree couldn’t capitalise on. Despite this Atkins struck, trapping Platt in front of middle. Unfortunately, this didn’t stop Bergholt in their tracks as the in-form Isaac Toombs joined Foster and they continued to score freely reaching 144-1 in the first 15 overs. First and second bowling changes came in the form of Louis Cant and the returning professional Grace Poole. Cant was first to strike as Foster pulled the ball straight into the hands of Atkins who added another one for the season to the catch tally. George Foster departed after a blistering 74 off 46 balls. Braintree feared a total in excess of 400 at this point however the message in the huddle was to continue to support the bowlers and do what we can to slow them down. The message particularly coming from the infectious hype man Himesh Patel (Meshy) who continued to declare 175 all out would be achieved. The message hit as the team dug deep with the bowling tactics starting to have an impact with wickets starting to fall more regularly with Bergholt falling to 194-5. Isaac Toombs had contributed 61 from 50 deliveries before he too was undone by Louis Cant who continued his good form achieving 3 wickets from 8 overs. The highlight a surprisingly sharp catch at slip from a nimbler than expected Leech to dismiss Bergholt's captain Baker. Bergholt's middle order also made significant contributions, with the overseas Nikhil Thokala (31), Connor Oakley (47), adding valuable runs. Notwithstanding Louis’s 3 for, the highlight of the bowling came surprisingly from Chris Leech who wasn’t in the captains plans to bowl and took continued persuasion from Walker to Newman to give Leech the ball. To the captain's surprise Leech put on a great display claiming 4 wickets for just 13 runs in 5.1 overs. A great recovery from Braintree to bowl Bergholt out for 288(just 113 over Meshy’s prediction) inside the allotted 50 overs meant the Dolphins left the field in high spirits.
Unfortunately, in reply, Braintree's innings didn’t go as planned. Promoted up the batting order stand in opener Walker continued his poor run of form as he was bowled early desperately looking for runs off, left arm spinner Oakley. This brought Louis Cant to the crease who had declared that he was going to go out and play his shots. A tactic which initially worked as he took the attack to the bowlers from ball one reaching 21 off 10 balls before he played one shot too many and was caught, Oakley again the bowler. Braintree were still positive as the permanently class Daniel Chalk was in the team today and was walking out at 4 to support the inform Leech. Unfortunately, Leech was trapped LBW after reaching 13 for Oakleys 3rd. Captain Newman joined Chalk who despite not holding a bat since last July looked as comfortable as ever. Newman supported and after a short partnership of 25, decided it was time to take a step down to take the attack to Oakley, unfortunately he continued his advance down the track all the way back to the clubhouse as he was stumped. Atkins must of got the message as he passed Newman as he dispatched his second ball into the Braintree gardens. Oakley replied immediately however and had him trapped LBW also to bring up his 5 for. The East Bergholt bowlers maintained consistent pressure, with multiple wicket-takers ensuring Braintree's chase never gained momentum. Osborne added 2, Patel added 6, professional Poole added 12 including 2 delightful drives to the boundary as they all tried to support Chalk who had reached his half century. Despite Chalk looking as classy as ever the highlight was him playing a lofted shot that everyone thought was sailing for 6 for it to only hit the ground several yards from the boundary and pull up immediately, to his surprise Chalk then had to set off for a single which he achieved to save his embarrassment despite almost being run out. His innings came to an end as he swept another timed shot straight into the hands of the boundary rider. Paget (6*) and Gowers (15) put in a stubborn display as they added 19 before Gowers was bowled to end Braintree’s innings for 165 all out inside 39 overs just securing Braintree 7 points. The hunt for the first win continues.