Premier Division campaign off to a false start

Goresbrook's first game in the Premier Division of the T Rippon Mid-Essex Cricket league saw them fall to defeat against former Morrant league foes Thurrock at a chilly M&B Club.

After losing the toss, Kurt Whisker's men were inserted and although wickets fell at regular intervals, a fine partnership between Toby Maund (46) and Richard Williamson (41) set the foundations for a reasonable total on a typically slow early season pitch.

Brook never quite threw off the shackles as the Thurrock bowling and fielding kept their composure and the sticky pitch made it hard for the Goresbrook batsmen to strike the ball cleanly, however at the conclusion of their 45 overs, Brook had reached 188-7, around par at this stage of the season.

Unfortunately, whilst Brook would have been confident of defending that total with a full 1st XI attack, on this occasion the Dagenham side were missing six regulars from last season's runaway Division One winning side and despite a valiant and disciplined effort, their lack of cutting edge meant that Thurrock had plenty of wickets in hard to launch a late assault after Sultan with 39 and Ayub with 32 had set the foundations. That assault came courtesy of skipper Danny Laird who took full advantage of being dropped early on to hit an unbeaten 49 and Ross Fullbrook who stuck the ball cleanly from the outset of his innings, seeing the Grays side home with a quickfire 35 not out in the 42nd over, Bryan Atkins being the pick of the Goresbrook bowlers with 3-40.

Brook skipper Kurt Whisker was a disappointed man after the defeat, although he praised his side's application.

"I felt 188 was a reasonable score, albeit we would have liked another 20 or so, however if we were going to defend that score with the attack we had, we needed to be right at our best and although I can't fault our effort, we looked a bit rusty. The fielding was definitely a notch down from our usual standards and although we were a bit unlucky with the number of balls that went in the air, but dropped short of fielders, we never really looked like taking enough wickets to put them under pressure and they fully deserved to win."

Fortunately for Goresbrook although Michael Rooke has moved to Singapore and is a permanent absentee, all five of the other players, missing last week as a result of football or wedding commitments, should be available next week for Brook's long trip to fellow promoted side Burnham Sports.