1s spinners rule as only Ox stands strong for Rayleigh

Goresbrook kept pace at the top of the mid-Essex Premier Division with a comfortable win at Rayleigh, who remain in the relegation places. After the hosts won the toss and took first knock, only former Barking rugby flanker Jason Ox made any impression with the bat for Rayleigh, his fine 78 lacking any support with the exception of 21 from Will Nolde, as Rayleigh were forced to counter attack after a disastrous start.

Off-spinner Toby Maund, given the new ball in an inspired move from captain Jordan Calverley, had both openers caught behind and Jon Cook was forced to retire hurt after a Kane Messenger bouncer jammed in his helmet, leaving Rayleigh immediately on the back foot. Ox and Nolde then rebuilt, but once Nolde fell to Lee Ramduth, the remaining batsmen couldn’t stick around to support Ox, four falling for ducks as Ramduth took 3-25 with his left arm spin and Craig Ivey’s mixture of cutters yielded 2-22, as Rayleigh were bowled out in the 40th over leaving Goresbrook 50 overs to chase their target.

The Goresbrook response was steady rather than spectacular, but Chris Burke (31) moved things along after Kurt Whisker fell for 18 and then after Burke fell to Nolde, skipper Calverley (32*) saw things home in conjunction with Craig Irving (13*) after Maund (28) had played some nice shots. Will Nolde (2-19) was the only bowler to make much impression in the wicket column, although Ian Bryant and skipper Matt Gilmore bowled tidily to force Brook to labour into the 36th over before they prevailed by 6 wickets.

Brook’s win leaves them tucked in 6 points behind co-leaders Bentley and Old Chelmsfordians, a gap which would be just 1 point but for a 5 point deduction for an administrative error carried forward from last season.

Although content with his side’s showing captain Calverley stressed that nothing should be taken for granted in advance of the visit of Brookweald for the final game of the first half of the season,

“I thought we were excellent again on Saturday, we didn’t have as many bowling options as usual, as we were missing Harry Jackson who has taken the new ball all year, plus Shane Barwick and Israel Ochwo who most teams would say are our best bowlers, but we came up with a plan and the 5 bowlers we used all did their job really well. The batsmen then applied themselves well and it always looked like we were going to chase the runs down.”