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Sat 23 Aug 2014
Burnham Sports I
Sat 1st XI
143/9
209/9
1s clinch promotion
Richard Williams19 Aug 2019 - 16:18
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Will be champions with a final week win over South Weald
Goresbrook’s first string secured promotion to the Mid-Essex Premier Division with a hard fought victory at Burnham on Crouch, in doing so Kurt Whisker’s men passed Burnham Sports at the top of Division 1 and will be crowned champions if they can beat bottom side South Weald at the May & Baker Club in the final game next Saturday.
On a chilly afternoon, Goresbrook won the toss and elected to bat, but the hosts quick bowler Robin Whittaker soon had Goresbrook in trouble after an excellent opening spell accounted for the prolific Kurt Whisker, fellow opener Richard Williamson and Jordan Calverley. Whittaker also rearranged Michael Rooke’s stumps in one of the best spells against Brook in a number of years, but crucially the umpire called no ball, a reprieve that Rooke was to take full advantage of.
The tall right hander anchored the Goresbrook innings, ensuring that his side batted the full 45 overs and set a competitive total on a wicket that offered movement to the bowlers even after the new ball had softened. Rooke added crucial runs with Shane Barwick (18) and Jordan Harris (27) as the middle order dug in and played around Rooke who was striking the ball beautifully. Goresbrook lost wickets at regular intervals, which meant that Rooke was never able to really cut loose, but at the end of his side’s 45 overs, he was unbeaten on 78 and Goresbrook had set Burnham a challenging 210 to win, Whittaker returning to take two further tail end wickets to finish with a deserved 5 for 37 from his 12 overs.
In reply, despite a bright start from the hosts batsmen, Sean Ross belatedly found the right area to bowl and the paceman picked up two early wickets to set Burnham back. The crucial period in the home innings was after the introduction of the Goresbrook spinners and with both Toby Maund and Shane Barwick achieving some turn and backed up by an outstanding fielding effort, Burnham were unable to achieve the required scoring rate and slipped off the pace as Maund picked up 3-40 and Barwick 3-36 from 12 overs stints bowled in tandem. Despite a fluent 34 from home skipper Joel Whittaker that was pretty much that and the hosts closed on 143-9, some 66 runs short.
Brook skipper Kurt Whisker, the oldest man in the side by 4 years at a still youthful 28, was delighted with his team’s performance in what he acknowledged was a real test for his side.
“Whittaker’s spell was the best I’ve faced for about 5 years, he was bowling with good pace and moving the ball around and in retrospect the no ball call when Michael was bowled was probably the pivotal moment. I’d like to think that somebody else would have put their hand up if required, but Michael is a key player for us and his runs were crucial.”
“Once we’d got over 200, we always fancy ourselves defending a total, we’re a young athletic fielding side so the batsmen have to work for their runs and we’ve got a great team spirit, as you would probably expect from a side where all 11 players came through our Colts system.”
With promotion secured Whisker was more circumspect on his sides prospects in the Premier Division,
“Other sides and the umpires tell us it’s a big step up to the top division, but we joined this league to get more challenging cricket so we’re really looking forward to it. Everybody at Goresbrook is grateful that the league allowed us to join in Division One, so it hasn’t been a slog to get up there and we will give it a real go next year. The average age of this side is around 23, so everybody has scope for improvement and if they don’t, there are some great players coming through in the lower sides.”
On a chilly afternoon, Goresbrook won the toss and elected to bat, but the hosts quick bowler Robin Whittaker soon had Goresbrook in trouble after an excellent opening spell accounted for the prolific Kurt Whisker, fellow opener Richard Williamson and Jordan Calverley. Whittaker also rearranged Michael Rooke’s stumps in one of the best spells against Brook in a number of years, but crucially the umpire called no ball, a reprieve that Rooke was to take full advantage of.
The tall right hander anchored the Goresbrook innings, ensuring that his side batted the full 45 overs and set a competitive total on a wicket that offered movement to the bowlers even after the new ball had softened. Rooke added crucial runs with Shane Barwick (18) and Jordan Harris (27) as the middle order dug in and played around Rooke who was striking the ball beautifully. Goresbrook lost wickets at regular intervals, which meant that Rooke was never able to really cut loose, but at the end of his side’s 45 overs, he was unbeaten on 78 and Goresbrook had set Burnham a challenging 210 to win, Whittaker returning to take two further tail end wickets to finish with a deserved 5 for 37 from his 12 overs.
In reply, despite a bright start from the hosts batsmen, Sean Ross belatedly found the right area to bowl and the paceman picked up two early wickets to set Burnham back. The crucial period in the home innings was after the introduction of the Goresbrook spinners and with both Toby Maund and Shane Barwick achieving some turn and backed up by an outstanding fielding effort, Burnham were unable to achieve the required scoring rate and slipped off the pace as Maund picked up 3-40 and Barwick 3-36 from 12 overs stints bowled in tandem. Despite a fluent 34 from home skipper Joel Whittaker that was pretty much that and the hosts closed on 143-9, some 66 runs short.
Brook skipper Kurt Whisker, the oldest man in the side by 4 years at a still youthful 28, was delighted with his team’s performance in what he acknowledged was a real test for his side.
“Whittaker’s spell was the best I’ve faced for about 5 years, he was bowling with good pace and moving the ball around and in retrospect the no ball call when Michael was bowled was probably the pivotal moment. I’d like to think that somebody else would have put their hand up if required, but Michael is a key player for us and his runs were crucial.”
“Once we’d got over 200, we always fancy ourselves defending a total, we’re a young athletic fielding side so the batsmen have to work for their runs and we’ve got a great team spirit, as you would probably expect from a side where all 11 players came through our Colts system.”
With promotion secured Whisker was more circumspect on his sides prospects in the Premier Division,
“Other sides and the umpires tell us it’s a big step up to the top division, but we joined this league to get more challenging cricket so we’re really looking forward to it. Everybody at Goresbrook is grateful that the league allowed us to join in Division One, so it hasn’t been a slog to get up there and we will give it a real go next year. The average age of this side is around 23, so everybody has scope for improvement and if they don’t, there are some great players coming through in the lower sides.”
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