Brook lose out in pitch battle

Goresbrook 3's skipper Bradley Winsley lost the toss and elected to bowl on a damp green tinged wicket in their inaugural outing in division 10 of the T Rippon mid Essex league.
First blood went to Ben Irving 2-6, whose pace exploited the vagaries of bounce in the May and Baker Annex pitch, bowling two victims in his fourth over. Owen Elsom bowled a miserly spell for the return of 1 wicket, conceding just 15 runs from his 12 overs. Lee Jones cleaned up the tail with 2-20 but the plaudits went to Daryl Forward who completed his spell with figures of 12-5-17-5, 4 victims bowled and the other to a fine one handed catch by Aaron Scott at point. Eastwood were bowled out for 70 in 37 overs.
Brooks reply started off well with Atif Ali hitting a 4 from the first ball of the innings but the wheels soon came off the reply when Aaron Scott was stumped. Ali 14, Charlie Thompson 11 and Jo Wilkinson 10 all made double figures but poor shot selection coupled with the accuracy of the visiting attack left Goresbrook 13 runs shy of victory when Lee Jones was bowled.