For their first home match of the season the 3rd XI looked to get back to winning ways against a Kelvedon team playing their first match of the season. After winning the toss and batting Kelvedon got off to a steady start as Cookson and James put on 23 for the first wicket before Leigh Garner had Cookson caught behind. Kelvedon worked hard to get to 63-1 before captain Calum MacLeod took two wickets in two balls leaving them in trouble. As wickets fell at regular intervals including some smart catching by Charlie Moore, Garner then took two in two for the second week running leaving the away side on 157-8.
At this stage Rory Bowden took it upon himself to accelerate the scoring. Batting at number 8 he clubbed 66 not out, spreading the field to all areas of the pitch and managing to bring the total to a more daunting 216-9 with Garner and MacLeod taking 3 wickets each, two debut wickets for Lewis Walker-Everton and another wicket for Lucas Hale.
Braintree started slowly but surely and MacLeod and Lockhart put on 52 for the first wicket. After MacLeod was out, Lockhart and Gangopadhay moved the scoring on to give Braintree a sniff.
Once Gangopadhay was removed for 16, Will Sherry continued his fine start to the season showing assurance on front and back foot, to keep things ticking with Lockhart.
Unfortunately, when on 44, Lockhart had to retire hurt with a back issue that had been plaguing him for the entire innings and despite the efforts of Sherry and Callum Lazarus to accelerate the scoring, there were not enough overs left to get close to the Kelvedon total, with Braintree finishing on 140-4.
Despite another loss, there were more real positives to be had with a very inexperienced line-up getting vital match practice