1's shrug off absences to beat High Roding

A scratch Goresbrook side shrugged off the absence of five regulars to record a good victory over relegation threatened High Roding at The M&B Club. With availability throughout the club sparse and Whisker doing everything in the selection meeting short of starting to twitch and declare that he was down to the bare bones, the captain took the opportunity to blood under 15 players Lee Jones and Adi Kumar and call up veteran gully botherer Matty Jones to complete his 11, so with an inexperienced side, Whisker wasted little time electing to bat after winning the toss on a sweltering day.

He would have been concerned as his side lurched to 105-4, however, as the skipper and Shane Barwick fell cheaply and Joe Curley (33) and Toby Maund (21) failed to kick on after a getting starts, however a stand of 103 for the 5th wicket saved the day.

Craig Irving made High Roding pay for a couple of dropped catches to hit a typically positive and aerial 74 and Jordan Harris took advantage of the opportunity to bat in the top six, hitting a fine unbeaten 59, keeping the score ticking over continuously as Brook piled on the runs. Bryan Atkins hit some quick boundaries late-on as Goresbrook added 54 in the last 6 overs to set a strong target of 253-6 from their 45 overs.

Atkins then relished a rare opportunity to take the new ball, the sturdy seamer nipping the ball about to run through the High Roding top order for a return of 5 for 47 from his 10 overs. Daryl Forward kept things typically tight from the other end to leave Goresbrook in a strong position and then youngsters Jones (0-20 from 6 overs) and Kumar (2-41 from 10) made an excellent impression as High Roding were reduced to 110-9. A last wicket stand between Burns (26*) and batsman John Brodie (42) who was batting 11 after picking up an injury in the field, saw Roding pick up some potentially valuable batting bonus points before the visitors subsided for 184 in the 43rd over.

Goresbrook move on to play leaders Bentley next week, in a game that the Coxtie Green based side will be keen to win, both to gain revenge for one of their two defeats this season and mainly to keep their nose ahead of Springfield who are just 8 points behind.

Whisker misses a rare game to attend a wedding, but he stressed that his side will be fully focused without him,

“It’s our first year in this Division and we’d like to finish as high as we possibly can, so we’ll be throwing everything at Bentley on Saturday. It’s been a while since I’ve missed a game, so it might be refreshing for the players to hear a different voice when Jordan Calverley captains on Saturday, but hopefully most of what we try to do is pretty well drilled, so the lads will make it an easy day for Jordan.”