It was the First Eleven’s turn to get out their passports as they travelled to Deepest Suffolk, via Tim Hortons, for the bottom of the table clash against Easton. The Dolphins were looking for revenge after losing the home match on the very last ball and only then from a scrambled bye.
Braintree showed four changes to the previous week as Matt Renvoize and Chris Leech returned to the fold, whilst Second Captain Andy Gowers stepped up to join the Ones. Also returning, was Louis Cant albeit in a delicate state after hob knobbing with Sir Alistair the previous evening!
Captain Hinks lost the toss and on a pitch that was well used, with numerous divots taken out of it that hadn’t been repaired, was invited to bowl first. Johnny Whiteoak took the new ball and after initially struggling to find his line, tempted Easton’s Overseas Marcus Jones into pulling straight to Matt Renvoize at square leg.
Ezra Fuller joined Mark Fuller at the crease and the pair slowly started to put a partnership together. However, the runs didn’t come freely though as Chris Hinks and “Essex Legend” Louis Cant bowled tightly, conceding less than 3 runs an over. After drinks, and with the hot sun beating down, runs came much easier. Hinksy used all the bowlers at his disposal in an attempt to get a wicket, which unfortunately proved hard to come by. In the 41st over, the skipper brought himself back into the attack and almost immediately trapped Fuller LBW having scored 74 in a second wicket partnership of 175. Will Lavergne didn’t last long at the crease as he became Hinks second victim as Mitch Atkins took a comfortable catch on the mid-wicket boundary.
Percy Moore was next to join Fuller and the pair put on a further 36 runs. Atkins was brought back on to bowl and soon demolished Fuller stumps, not before the opener had reached a century though. Easton’s innings capitulated losing 6 wickets for only 10 runs. Braintree’s own Overseas was bowling as fast as he has during his stay in Essex, and Bryn Powell had to take cover from cartwheeling stumps as Chris Wells and Henry Wilson were both beaten by pace in consecutive deliveries.
Mitch was denied the chance of a hat trick though as kamikaze running from the home side resulted in three run outs in one over bowled by Matt Childs. Easton had accumulated a total of 245 (bolstered by 18 wides), with Atkins taking 3 for 27 and Hinks taking 2 for 26.
In reply, Braintree started slowly scoring just 10 runs from the opening 6 overs. Chris Hinks having scored 2, attempted to speed things up but was only successful in missing a straight delivery from Jones. Matt Renvoize moved on to 11, however he joined his captain back in the hutch after holing out to Fuller off the bowling of Godward. Wickets then fell at regular intervals. Chris Walker (3) was bowled by Godward, Chris Leech (14) holed out to Fuller off Wells and Matt Childs (0) was stumped. Johnny Whiteoak found the boundary on 3 occasions, but when on 24 he became Godward’s fourth victim.
Josh Newman and Mitch Atkins then put together a partnership of 80 runs for the 7th wicket. Atkins was the more aggressive scoring 52 off 37 balls before he was caught behind after attempting to run the ball down to third man, Mitch’s innings contained 2 maximums and 7 fours. In comparison, Newman was more conservative in his approach pushing numerous singles to give his partner the strike.
Following Atkins dismissal, Newman was joined at the crease by Bryn Powell and the pair put on 39 for the 8th wicket. However, Braintree were now falling behind the required run rate and, in an attempt, to rectify matters Newman decided to hit out but he was only successful in finding the safe hands of Fuller on the long off boundary. The Dolphin’s vice-captain had top scored with 60 off 94 balls received.
Powell and Cant put on a further 20 runs before the former was bowled for 14 and immediately the “Legend” was stumped for 12. Andy Gowers was unbeaten with a single against his name as Braintree were all out for 228 an agonisingly 18 runs short of victory, ironically the same number of wides they’d conceded when bowling.