Brook bury Baddow

The 1’s Jekyll and Hyde season continued as they bounced back from being bowled out for 90 at Springfield to rout Great Baddow for 83, confirming a third placed finish in the Mid-Essex Premier Division with a 10 wicket victory.

On a hot afternoon, the visitors won the toss and elected to bat, but although Shaun Ross removed Chris Huartson for 16, there was little sign of the carnage to follow as Great Baddow advanced to 51-1. However Kane Messenger was in the midst of a 10 over new ball spell and the medium pacer suddenly produced a purple patch to remove number 3 Smith and then bowl Baddow’s leading scorer Dipen Sodhi first ball. He then dismissed opener Wilson for 14 with just one further run added and when Toby Maund got in on the act, trapping Nuttall lbw, Great Baddow had lost 4 wickets for just 1 run.

The Goresbrook spinners then took over, as Maund picked up his second wicket and diminutive duo Adi Kumar and Billy Smith also took 2 wickets a piece as the Chelmsford side were swept away inside 30 overs for just 83, the spinners claiming 6 for 26 between them in addition to Messenger’s 3 for 32.

The Goresbrook reply proceeded with few alarms, as skipper Kurt Whisker hit a confident unbeaten 48 and Aaron Scott added a more circumspect 20* as Brook cruised home in the 20th over without losing a wicket.

The win, coupled with Old Chelmsfordians defeat at Rayleigh, confirms Goresbrook in third place, albeit a long way behind the top two, Bentley having taken a big step to retaining their Mid-Essex title by winning at Springfield on Saturday.