Braintree's Under 13's were on the wrong side of 28 run defeat as they took to the field for the first time this season. With a strong side fielded, Braintree has high hopes of reversing last season's results at the hands of Kelvedon and made a solid start as they were asked to field first when skipper, Lucas Hale, lost the toss.
It was Hale himself, that got Braintree ahead of the game as he reduced Kelvedon to 18-2 with Rehman (8) and Day (9) both having their stumps disturbed by the Braintree quickie. A partnership of 84 between Archie Thompson-Arnold (33) and Max Messenger (30) got the visitors back into the match, and looked like taking it away from the Dolphins, as they reached 102 in the 15th over. However, the introduction Henry Butler changed the game again as he bowled Thompson-Arnold with his 2nd ball. With spin slowing the rate Kyra MacLeod was introduced to the attack and she took the scalp of Oli Schofield who pulled straight to Hale at square leg for 1. Butler then removed Messenger and Tobey Edwards in consecutive balls and the runs started to dry up as Braintree gained control of the rate. That was the end of the wickets though as Oliver Burcher (11*) and Ryan Whittick (12*) guided Kelvedon to a more than useful, but very chasable, 137 from their 20 overs.

Kelvedon needed to start well to prevent Braintree getting into their chase and, although they were unable to manage a breakthrough early on, accurate bowling and a cleverly constructed field made it very difficult for Braintree openers Will Sherry and Tyler Dyer, get out of the traps. At 17-0 after 6 Kelvedon were well on top but the 7th over saw Sherry take 3 boundaries to up the tempo and give the innings some impetus. The Braintree pair started to find gaps in the field with regularity and were helped by a couple of 5's generated via overthrows but could quite get the acceleration they needed. Sherry brought up his 50 from 59 balls which included 7 of his 9 boundaries but Dyer eventually fell for 25 in the search of quick runs. Lucas Hale came and perished for 3, looking for some big hitting, leaving Will Gregory (2*) to join Sherry at the close who carried his bat for a well crafted 66*
Not the start the juniors would have hoped for in terms of the result but lots of positives to take regarding the performance as they head to Sudbury on Sunday for their next match