Braintree's second string fell to a second consecutive defeat as they went down to last years Div 6 champions by 7 wickets at Panfield Lane.
With the opposition fielding just 9 players at the start of the game Braintree skipper, Andrew Gowers had no hesitation in batting first as the coin once again came down in his favour but Braintree did not get the start they had hoped for. Nick Lockhart was trapped in front by Tom Shallish for 1 as he pushed tentatively forward and then in the next over last year's leading run scorer, Dave Hale, was also LBW as he went back to a half tracker from Connor Crowley that barely got above ground level. 17-2 became 24-3 a Guy Walton was bowled by Shallish for 3 as he misjudged a good length ball and Braintree were in trouble. Andrew Sherry then joined Himesh Patel in the middle and they consolidated for a short period until Patel got caught in two minds and tamely guided a Shallish delivery to Eddie Green at slip for 32. Sherry was starting to get into his grove and needed support which he got in the form of the skipper as they put on 45 before Tom Sidhu ripped through the middle order taking 3 quick wickets with his left arm spin, all clean bowled. First Gowers went back to a relatively full ball before Jerry Hollingsworth played over the top of a full ball for 8 and Glen Newham played down the wrong line for 2. Having passed his 50 Sherry was desperate for someone to stay with him and Shibu Varghese is not the type to block for the other end! However, he played a good hand hitting 23 from 17 balls and encouraging Sherry to rotate strike as well as hit his trade mark hockey shots to the fence. Varghese was eventually undone by a fantastic catch by the veteran Green at mid-off from the leg spin of Nathanael Mawson and he was soon on a hattrick as Riley pain inexpicably swung from the hip with his vice-captain in the 90's at the other end and lost his off stump. Josh Paget was the last man in for Braintree and he kept his cool to allow Sherry to get the score to 221 and in the process complete a superb ton from just 95 balls (18 x 4, 1 x 6), and he was not shy in letting his team-mates know his shoulders were sore!

Melton started their innings with 10 as a late arrival had materialised but Braintree soon had them reeling at 46-3 as Josh Paget quickly got into his work. He removed Conor Crawley for 10 with a ball that jagged back sharply to knock back his middle peg before Himesh Patel, deputising in the opening spot for the recovering Sherry, took a sharp return catch to remove the hard hitting Mawson for the same score. Paget picked up a second as Shallish hoiked to Patel at mid-wicket and Braintree were well in the game.
However, that was to be as good as it got for the Dolphins and Tom Sidhu (98*) and Adrian Smith (77*) put on an excellent stand of 176 to take the victory back to deepest, darkest, Suffolk. Braintree will be disappointed at, once again, missing opportunities to break the partnership, and also not keeping the ball consistently in the right areas as Sidhu in particular punished anything too full. Architects of their own downfall again, Braintree must get back on track as they go to local rivals Dunmow in their next game.