In a crunch relegation battle, we hosted Eastwood at Braxted on a beautiful summer’s day. After enjoying some great tossing for a large part of the season, Ridge’s tossing had become noticeably more of a struggle in recent weeks. The toss struggle continued, but Eastwood elected to bat. Happy days.
Issey opened the bowling with the ever-reliable Danny Kennedy. Danny (9-2-18-1) was bowling in some fantastic areas and was unlucky to not have a wicket early doors. It was Issey (8-0-17-1) who made the breakthrough in his first over, castling one of the Eastwood openers. There had clearly been some sort of upset in the Kennedy household leading up to the game, as Ryan, making his first appearance of the season, let one hit him in the chest in the slips rather than catching it off of Danny’s bowling. Despite this Danny soon got his rewards, dismissing the other opener courtesy of the safe hands of Ethan. The Eastwood skipper proved hard to dismiss and the scoreboard kept ticking up. Super Sam bowled well (6-0-25-0) and was unlucky not to get a wicket. Hetty showed some promise in her spell (3-0-20-0) and was unfortunate not to claim her first GTCC wicket. Gilbert put down a tough chance on the square leg fence and the batsmen almost left the ball onto their stumps on a couple of occasions. Owen was going nicely at the other end (9-1-39-2), but it was golden arm Archy who dislodged the tricky skipper, claiming his wicket in his first over (2-0-17-1). Owen then went to work, claiming two well deserved wickets. El Capitan brought himself on, claiming what is possibly the worst wicket to fall this season. A half tracker that crashed into the batsman’s pads almost on the second bounce and ricocheted onto the stumps. That batsman was on 49. Ouch. Ridge-o (3-0-19-2) then claimed his second wicket with one that actually deserved a wicket. Issey and Owen finished things off as we restricted Eastwood to 156-7 off of their 40. Very chaseable indeed.
Hetty was on tea duty and impressed on tea-making debut. Chicken salad and cheese and tomato sandwiches on impeccable quality were on offer. A great range of savouries including pizza, chicken nuggets (and goujons!) and sausage rolls. Homemade humous and veggies was a very welcome addition to proceedings and is certainly a standout tea moment. A homemade Victoria sponge was the highlight of cakes, brownies and millionaire shortbread playing a fantastic anchor role supporting it. Impressive showing, especially on tea-making debut. 8.5/10.
Ridge-o and Owen opened things up, and both got off to good starts. Ridge looking composed and Owen playing some great shots that would look fantastic on the driving range. Owen was gone for a quick fire 25, bringing Ethan to the crease. Ridge demonstrated the sh*t takes wickets, managing to nick a short wide one behind. What then followed was an England 2002 scorecard, with all the batsmen getting in then getting out. Ethan was gone LBW for 14 and RK for 8 on his return. Sam was looking good out in the middle, but the drinks break struck, and Sam was gone first ball after drinks. Danny and Colin looked to rebuild, requiring 80 with 5 wicket in hand and 19 overs remaining. DK looked good before eventually hauling to mid on. Colin was providing middle order resistance as Gilbert came to the crease. Harry played well and impressed again, before departing for 7. Our chances started to look very bleak after Colin found the man at midwicket. Archy provided some agricultural entertainment with the bat, knocking up some quick runs before spooning one up in the air. Issey and Hetty were left with too much today as we were bowled out for 135, falling 20 short. A disappointing display with the bat in a game that we should have won in a straightforward manner after bowling and fielding really well. We look to go again at Rayleigh next week, needing to win the last 2 to stay up.
