Another lovely, sunny Saturday saw Stowupland visit St Peter’s Road, with the home side winning to toss and electing to bat first and what a decision it was. Dave Hale, the ever-present force with the bat in the 2nd XI, started the game off as he meant to carry on, hitting two fours and a six in a 15 run first over and not long after, the Dolphins were 52 for no loss at the end of the fourth. Within 8 overs, Hale had reached a half-century from just 30 balls, dismantling Stowupland’s opening attack, losing three balls in the process. Hale didn’t slow down either, continuing to launch the ball to all areas of the ground, bringing up yet another ton for his hometown in style from 72 balls. Unfortunately, not long after he got there, Hale was sent back to the pavilion for 108, playing a tired chip back to the bowler Dan Marsh, which brought an end to an opening stand of 159 with Geoff Eveling and a truly magnificent innings consisting of 13 fours and 5 sixes. Lee Fullgrabe then came to the crease, meaning that Braintree were showing no signs of slowing down, as Fullgrabe is known for his mean swing of a bat. His and Eveling’s partnership only lasted 5 overs, as the latter was bowled by Ben Mills for 47, agonisingly missed out on a well-deserved 50. Despite playing second fiddle to Hale, Eveling played a quite class innings of his own, ticking the dolphins along and being the anchor of what became a power hitting fest. Rory Ciccarelli-Ainsley came to the crease and not long after departed, unfortunately spooning one to gully for 7. In form Guy Walton was next out to bat, and him and Fullgrabe produced a blistering partnership of 83 in just 7 overs, the latter moving from 23* to 78, launching one of the largest sixes Braintree may have ever seen, the ball likely to be found rolling down Coggeshall Road, however he was then removed from the crease, after missing a straight one. With just a few overs left, the remaining Braintree batsmen had a couple of quick cameos, with Joe Osborne and Robbie Spalding scoring 9 and 4 respectively. Keeper Jeremy Hollingsworth was then put in to bat for the last ball- unbeknown to Himesh Patel who sprinted off to put his pads on- with the Dolphins finishing on 303 for 6 off their 45 overs.

With the large score on the board, the visitors knew they had to come out with the intention of scoring fast in order to make it a game, and so they did, putting on a quick 65 run partnership, before opening bowler Josh Paget snicked off Dan Marsh for just over a run a ball 46, Hollingsworth collecting a simple catch behind the stumps. The Stowupland batters all continued to have quick starts, but the next to fall was the other opener Yardley, who picked out Hale at slip off Spalding’s bowling. The travelling team continued to go at roughly the rate required and looked very much in control of the game at 152-2 after 24 overs before Spalding then removed the two set batsmen in Blanchard and Miller in the same over, captain Blanchard skying to Paget at mid-on and Miller being caught behind by Hollingsworth, not long after a Spalding slower ball had hit the keeper in the face, somehow not breaking his nose. Spalding finished as top wicket taker of the day with figures of 3-56 from his 9 overs. A few overs later, Eveling had Kevin Roche heading back to the changing rooms, the batter being given out lbw, leaving the batting side 163-5. Stowupland then began to rebuild with a solid 65 run partnership until Eveling struck again, Joe Marsh picking out Ciccarelli-Ainsley a couple of strips along. Patel then had the new batsman Chilvers bowled in the next over, appealing for lbw before realising that he had actually taken the bails off. This meant that, at the end of the 39th over, the visitors were 239-7, requiring 74 to win. This looked to be a very difficult finish for both teams, however it was made harder for the Dolphins when Mills hit back to back sixes to round off a 17 run Eveling over, with one of them somehow landing in the middle of a triangle of unaware children. Patel’s next over then went for 12, meaning the total required had been heavily reduced to 24 off the last two overs. However, both bowlers held their nerve, with the 12 balls left only resulting in 11 runs, Eveling’s penultimate over going for just 4 despite once again bowling with the already peppered short boundary on the right handers leg side, and Patel bowling some excellent balls to prevent there being any boundaries in the final set. Eveling finished as the pick of the bowlers, with figures of 2-45 off his 9 overs, capping off a thrilling game and a quite fantastic effort from both sides, with Braintree coming out on top for the second game running.