2s squeezed at Tillingham

Goresbrook’s second string lost in very similar fashion to their senior colleagues, as they were unable to surpass Tillingham’s 218-7 despite a fine innings of 85 from Aaron Scott. The hosts total was built around a big partnership between Hylton (40) and Ian Barrell (70*) and a late flurry from Connor Hayman (31) as the Tillingham batsmen never cut loose against some competitive Goresbrook bowling. O’Neil McDowell with 3-57 reaped the reward after excellent new ball spells from Matt Friend and Bobby Gaymer had made scoring difficult for the Dengie men.

The Goresbrook replay started positively with Scott and Charlie Thompson adding 71 for the first wicket, but by the mid-point, the run rate had escalated to six an over and the Goresbrook batsmen were struggling to make inroads. Despite Scott anchoring the effort, neither he nor the Brook middle order were unable to accelerate and Scott finally fell in the 45th over with 18 still required to win.

Taking the game to the last over against a Tillingham side looking good for promotion is a commendable effort, albeit the Tillingham side looked slightly depleted, but once again this season a Goresbrook side worked their way into a good position with wickets in hand, only to find the value of those wickets was a few runs less than the total they were chasing.

The 2's still probably require one further win to make sure of their Division Two status, a target which should be achieved given that they've been very competitive in most games this season, a campaign which will hopefully have been a good learning experience for a squad with a number of players in the 15-19 age range.