Ivey strangles Herbs

Goresbrooks Invincibles hit the road and this time avoided hitting any majestic stags on their visit to Willow Herbs in the picturesque village of Blackmore, north of Brentwood and on a blazing hot day home captain Lewis Harris won the toss and invited his visitors from western mid-Essex to bat on a drying deck.

That decision meant that Harris saw his namesake Jordan scuttling out to opening the innings with the elegant Joe Curley as the pair looked to carry on their good work from the previous week. Continue they did, as they added 54 before Harris nicked one behind off Burness, presumably distracted by the news that Scott Barwick was pressurising his 2's spot with a buccaneering innings for the 4's.

Curley continued to send reminders to 1's skipper Kurt Whisker with excellent timing and stroke play, the stylish right hander making 40 including seven 4s before holing out just before drinks. Such has been Curley's form this season, that Whisker's bag must be metaphorically covered with Curley penned 'pick me' post-it notes by now. Although as Whisker has about a million league runs this year and his fellow 1st XI opener Craig Irving is 170 not out in his last 2 league knocks, a breezy 40 probably isn't cutting it at present.

Curley's departure brought together the experienced partnership of Bryan Atkins & Keith Friend who set about the bowling with a gusto usually reserved for the tea at those away grounds where £80 buys you more than a couple of plates of sandwiches, some indeterminate flavoured pasta and a selection of mini cakes.

Atkins picked up speed with a combination of elegant cover drives & power hitting, and although his trademark minimalist footwork provoked a couple of lbw shouts that the hosts apparently felt were stone cold certs, Atkins survived to inflict further damage on the Herbs bowling figures.

Friend's expert defence and lengthy forward defensive stride provided an ideal foil for Atkins and as the ball started coming onto the bat, the pair started to wield the willow to despatch the homesters' brothers Walsh (Jon & Andy) to all parts of the quaint Walter Hobbs Recreation Ground.

When on 39 Atkins bludgeoned another straight six and immediately hit the ground like a wounded deer in agony with what appeared to be a serious knee injury, however after a quick dusting down he was able to continue with the aid of a runner and his next 6 brought up his half century in quick time before fatigue got the better of him with the score on 140, the bottom line on his innings being 54 runs including seven 4s & three 6s.

Goresbrook then suffered a wobble as the both the in form Billy Chapman and Bobby Gaymer failed to trouble the scorers and it was left to Friend (38 runs) to marshal the lower order to what appeared to be a slightly below par total of 196 off the allotted 45 overs, the innings closing with Martin Rooke and Lawrence Walsh at the crease together some 33 years after the pair appeared in Goresbrook's first ever game.

In reply Willow Herbs suffered an early setback when 17 year old Bobby Gaymer had Barker trapped lbw for 4.

Gaymer showing a thymely return to form against the Herbs, had the batsman in all kinds of trouble with his excellent lengths, swing & seam which was fortunate as the same could not be said for Goresbrook's previous in-form bowler, Joe Barwick. The copper crusader had a rare off day as batsman Phillips & Harris plundered 27 from his 4 overs, leaving him shaking his newly shorn head as he was despatched to the field to be replaced by Lawrence Walsh.

In a post-match inquest, Barwick's severe haircut was found to be the cause of the downturn in form, as a finesse action such as his can be severely affected by even a slight shift in cranial weight distribution. However it was concluded that given the family history of hair retention, or lack thereof, Joe was wise to tackle this issue head on at an early stage.

With the Herbs starting to dominate, for the second time in as many weeks skipper Ivey turned to his sage Lawrence Walsh to control the run flow with his experience and guile and once again the runs immediately dried up at Walsh's end. At that stage with one avenue for run scoring closed, the batsman set about the tiring Gaymer which prompted skipper Ivey to bring himself into the attack.

Just like Patrick Viera before him, Ivey’s leadership has been inspirational this season and so it proved again as he ripped the heart out of the Willow Herbs batting with a mint display of seam and cut bowling.

Ivey had Phillips caught for 27 before the crucial run out of capt Harris by ginger wicket keeper Chapman turned the match the visitors way.

In a mustard 9 over spell that decided the game Ivey picked up 6 wickets for just 16 runs, thus losing his “jug avoidance” tag.

With the miserly Walsh producing figures of 1 for 18 from 7 overs before tiring in the heat, young Billy Smith joined the fray to collect the last wicket for 25, the innings closing on 118 to leave Brook winners by 78 runs in an encounter that was much tighter than the score suggested.

Veteran Lawrence Walsh, presumably recovered after his marathon 7 over spell, said after the game “we were pushed all the way by Willow Herbs who in my view are the best side we have faced this year, but the boys have shown that they can dig deep when they need to and skipper Ivey turned the game with an excellent spell of bowling. We are missing 3 regulars next week including the captain so we will be turning to the maverick style of Joe Curley to find the one more win we require to secure the title”.