Whisker plunders again as 1's cruise home against Great Totham

Goresbrook skipper Kurt Whisker carried his bat for a superb 113 not out as Goresbrook bounced back from a shock defeat at Rankins to record a maximum point haul against Great Totham. It was Whisker’s fourth score in excess of 50 in five starts in the Mid-Essex league as Brook maintained their 2nd place in Division One behind early pacesetters Burnham Sports.

The Goresbrook batsmen didn’t have things all their own way, as Craig Irving battled hard to see off the new ball, but fell for 17 just as he started to open up. Michael Rooke was then bowled for 11 leaving Brook at 80-2, still some way short of a competitive total. However, like his skipper Jordan Calverley has taken to the Mid-Essex league like a duck to water and he recorded his third successive 50+ score, as the Goresbrook third wicket added 152 runs, assisted by an astonishing 42 wides from the Totham bowlers. When Calverley went for 51, Shane Barwick hit a breezy unbeaten 24 as Brook piled on the runs in the late overs to set their visitors a daunting 270 to win.

A successful chase never looked likely as an early 3 wicket salvo from Shaun Ross, called up to the first XI on the morning of the game, reduced Totham to 25-3 and with Toby Maund also taking the new ball with his off-breaks and picking up a couple of wickets, Goresbrook were soon well on top. An entertaining 56 from Howard Hardy-King saw the visitors over the 100 mark, as the middle order man took a liking to Richard Williamson’s spin bowling, however Shane Barwick soon put the clamps on with a miserly spell of 3-10 from 8 overs and when Jordan Harris took the final wicket to fall, Totham were still 140 runs short.

Whisker was delighted with another straightforward win, but warned that last week’s defeat combined with being on the wrong side of the weather in the first six weeks of the season, means that Goresbrook will be playing catch-up for the foreseeable future.