Great woe at Great Waltham

Lee Ramduth’s reserves lost out in equally heart-breaking fashion, if contrasting fashion to the 1's this weekend at picturesque Great Waltham. The 2’s battled to 158-9 on a difficult pitch with an opening stand between A-Ron Scott (22) and Lawrence Walsh (33) getting them off to a steady start before wickets started to tumble, the remainder of the innings being held together by Billy Chapman’s 39 and an unbeaten 18 from the skipper coming in down the order.

That 158 looked more than enough as a fine opening spell from O’Neil McDowell (3-19), a tight 10 over stint from Chapman (1-29) and two wickets from Aryan youngster Lee Jones (2-11) reduced the hosts to 80-7 from 29 overs. However as at M&B when he made half his side's runs, Sam Harris looked a class act and he finally found support from number 9 Mark Chapman (who had earlier proved an assassin with the ball taking 2-19) who dug in with 21 and then number 10 Lewis Tucker tucked in for a fine unbeaten 35 as in tandem with Harris, who scored an outstanding 65*, the pair whittled down the runs required before finally getting home with 2 balls remaining for a 2 wicket win.

The 2's promotion hopes have therefore stalled badly in the past few weeks, so victory at home against Rayleigh next week is an imperative before a run against the top sides gives them an opportunity to stake their claim again.