Seventh heaven for Whisker's men

Kurt Whisker men recorded their seventh win on the bounce to close within a still sizeable 32 points of new Mid-Essex Premier Division leaders Bentley, Goresbrook eased past long time leaders Old Chelmsfordians by 7 wickets, inflicting a third successive defeat on the old boys, whose season has hit the buffers just as Brook seem to be hitting top form.

The catalyst for the victory was an excellent bowling and fielding performance as Goresbrook dismissed OC’s for just 130 after the visitors had won the toss and elected to bat as the warm conditions dried the ground following the previous day’s torrential rain. The visitors started brightly, looking to take advantage of the fielding restrictions in place for the first 15 overs, but after a flurry of boundaries they were pegged back by a wicket from a Daryl Forward full toss and then two Shaun Ross scalps, including the dangerous Rehman for a duck. Ross bowled with good pace on his return to 1st team action taking 2-22.

50-3 in the 9th over quickly became 73-6 as Shane Barwick and Kane Messenger turned the screws as the new ball started to soften, supported by some excellent catching. Barwick bowled a mesmeric spell of 10-5-11-2 and Messenger bowled with typical aggression to pick up 2-34 from his 10 overs, Jordan Calverley taking an outstanding slip catch to dismiss Rob Wickham. That left the stage clear for Bryan Atkins and the returning Forward to clean up the tail, Forward finishing with 3 for 52 as OC’s were dismissed in the 39th over.

The reply was far from straightforward, but with 50 overs to reach their target, the Goresbrook batsmen could afford to pick their battles and the openers resisted OC’s new ball bowlers, the tall Wickham and ex-Essex staffer Joe Grant without suffering any loss. As it often the case, a bowling change saw quick wickets fall, skipper Whisker for 27 to a fine delivery and Craig Irving (11) and Toby Maund (6) looking to push the score on. However that brought Jordan Calverley and Shane Barwick together and as was the case the prior week at Little Baddow, the Goresbrook 4th wicket partnership saw the side home, Calverley hitting an unbeaten 34 and Barwick completing a fine all-round game with 33 not out as Brook reached their target in the 38th over with no further alarm.

Captain Whisker was delighted with his side’s performance in the field, but despite his side’s great run, he conceded that the title was a long-shot,

“They came out hard at us in the first few overs when we bowled too much loose stuff, but once we got the break to get the wicket I thought we were excellent and completely outplayed them. We lost the game at their place with some awful drops, so it was pleasing to catch everything today.”

However Whisker cautioned against getting carried away,

“Despite winning seven on the bounce, we can’t seem to move out of 5th place and even if we won all of our remaining games, I think it’s unlikely we’d overhaul everybody, so in a sense we’ve got nothing to lose at Springfield on Saturday. They are the side who everybody expected to win the league, they'll be fully focused after losing at Bentley last week and they are unbeaten at home for a couple of years, so we’ll go there as big underdogs, throw everything at them and see how far we’ve come since they stuffed us in May.”

"Their top four are outstanding so we'll be looking to Israel Ochwo to bowl a bit straighter than he did at home to see if we can pick up a few early wickets. I've also heard good things about their pitch, so if it's got a bit of pace and bounce, the quicker bowlers have a few more weapons in their armoury."