Braintree's U14's continued their fine start to the season with a great win over local rivals Coggeshall in a tense finish at Panfield Lane. Having won the toss and elected to bat on a brand-new track, skipper Lucas Hale was reunited with his long-time opening partner and once again they would combine to great effect. With the Coggeshall bowlers struggling to find consistent lengths the two Braintree batters made hay with the combination of power from Hale and the elegance of Sherry seeing the runs flowing right from the off. Both batsmen played some lovely looking shots as they made their way towards a partnership of 101 which was only broken when Hale reached his half century and retirement. a second, consecutive 50 for the skipper from just 43 balls which included 10 boundaries. His departure brought Bertie Burnside to the crease and, as ever, renewed energy and shots a plenty as he moved quickly to 16 before he was caught behind by George Butler off of the bowling of Oli Eastall. As the score [progress towards the 150 mark Will Sherry completed his half century with a typically serene clip off of his legs as he reached the milestone in 45 balls hit 8 boundaries along the way. George Wedge and Will Gregory both finished unbeaten on 4 with 153 being the target for Coggeshall to chase down

One thing for certain was that Coggeshalls array of young talent would not die wondering and George Butler, alongside Oscar Tebbutt got the innings of to a flyer bringing up 30 in the first 3 overs. Using the pace of Lucas Hale and going hard at Corbyn MacLeod 4 boundaries and a 5 came off of the first 3 overs but the two combined in the fourth to give the Dolphins their breakthrough as Tebbutt launched a MacLeod ball skywards only to find Hale running back from mid-off to take the catch over his shoulder. A mix up between Stanley Farrow and Butler saw the former run out by Will Gregory for 2 and then an excellent catch by 'keeper Jake Lee saw Butler dismissed from the left arm spin of George Wedge and Braintree were back on top. 52-3 became 68-4 as Seb Blackwell was bowled by Bertie Burnside for 1 but then came the Coggeshall fight-back in the form of Charlie Dakin and Dougie Hopkins as they put on 67 for the 5th wicket. A moment of controversy then saw Lucas Hale, having brought himself back on to bowl the 16th over. With light fading Dakin struggled with the pace of the opening bowler and the umpires made the call to ask him to withdraw himself from the attack. With the new electronic scoreboard shining very brightly just over the boundaries edge, to everyone watching the decision was correct. However, the Braintree skipper took some convincing in the heat of the battle and George Wedge eventually came into the attack. Dakin reached his 50 and retired from the very next ball and Braintree's spinners then took a firm grip of the game as just 7 more runs were scored from the final 3 overs. Both Will Gregory and Will Sherry picked up wickets in the final 2 overs as Braintree ran out winners in a gripping game by just 13 runs.