3s lose to experienced Tillingham outfit

A youthful 3rd XI made the long trip to Tillingham on Saturday afternoon for a 2nd v 3rd clash in the Trippon Mid Essex league ninth division. With club availability at a possible all time low due to holidays, weddings, stag do's and bar mitzvah's the third string made four changes from the win at home to Burnham last weekend.

Out went Andy Livett, Joe Wilkinson, Richard Williams and Tahmid Khondakar to be replaced by promising under 13s Itihas Adama, Nirbhay Bist and Alfie Atkins plus newly recruited Tolu Dairo. With just three drivers available packed cars hit the A13 for the 50 mile journey to the tiny Essex village.

At the scenic West Field stand in skipper Gillham Snr won the toss and elected to field against a very experienced Tillingham outfit who were with two first team players due to the 'they were only able to play at home ruling'. Some might have questioned the decision to bowl first on a gloriously sunny afternoon but with a make shift young team Gillham felt it right to give the game the best chances of going the distance and this proved to be the case.

Under 15 Lee Jones got the game underway from the Vicarage Lane end and immediately found pace and bounce against Tillingham's opener and captain Hylton. Hylton, fresh from some big scores in recent games showed his attacking prowess though and drove Jones and then Paul Atkins for boundaries as he looked to play his favourite shot on every possible occasion. Gillham Snr put himself in the firing line at short cover and the decision reaped its rewards immediately as Hylton drove Jones straight to his safe hands to make the early breakthrough.

Snowdon followed shortly after with the score still on 21 as Bist took a fine catch at mid on off Atkins's bowling. Chapman and Corby then steadied the hosts innings and started to score at will against Atkins who was bowling a very mixed bag and Jones who's earlier accuracy started to desert him. Bist and Gillham came into the attack and promptly put an end to the flurry of runs seen in the previous overs.

Bist, bowling off a run up that nearly matched the length of Khondakars from last season hit his lines from the off. Tillingham first teamer Chapman couldn’t get the ball away as a spell of in and out swingers from Bist kept him guessing. At the other end Gillham kept Corby quiet and his frustration grew. He was next to go with debutant Dairo taking a fine catch at point off Gillham's bowling.

Church was next to go without troubling the excellent Kay Friend who's scoring can only be matched at best by Dean Barwick when he is having one of his better days. Church was caught by Atkins at mid wicket after Gillham had thrown in a bouncer following three deliveries that had beaten his outside edge.

Akers was in and out next. Following a reprieve, where Gillham Jnr again dropped an outside edge chance off his fathers bowling, the senior of the two Gs comprehensively bowled him before bouncing out Ashworth, caught again by Atkins for his fourth wicket.

Bist's excellent spell brought no reward but he conceded just 11 runs from five overs and was replaced by Adama. Chapman was still there, showing his class with shots to both sides of the wickets and he took a liking to Adama's bowling. Goresbrook fielding at this stage was excellent. The youngsters were chasing down everything in the field and Alfie Atkins impressed in the covers with a series of diving stops, mainly off his Dad's earlier wayward bowling.

Chapman and Potten had put on 30 runs for the 7th wicket before an Adama full toss was smacked into mid wicket where Lee Jones took a magnificent one handed catch to dismiss Potten who had scored just a single run in the partnership. With his partners running out Chapman became more aggressive and pulled Gillham for three quick fours before the West Londoner captured his man as Bist took another excellent catch at mid on.

In the process of taking the catch Bist injured his finger. With his finger nail hanging off and blood dripping from the injury Bist was escorted from the field of play and placed into the care of one of the Tillingham players wives who looked after him for the last ten overs of the innings.

With eight wickets down Brook wanted to finish the innings off quickly but Tillingham used their experience aided by the lack of concentration from the younger Brook players to move from a struggling 115-8 to 177-9 at the close of innings. With some of the players playing their first 40 over match is was understandable that concentration levels dropped and this is something that they will learn from.

Jones took the ninth wicket, that of Mears as Paul Atkins took his third catch of the innings at mid wicket.

The Goresbrook players entered the pavilion to be greeted by no teas. The Tillingham tea lady Tess had failed to show. However there was a large metal tea pot full of tea and several china cups and a selection of metal spoons. Used together with the jug of milk and the sugar a nice cup of tea was had. It was unlikely to have been Yorkshire tea as it wasn’t the best but it was a better fare than a supermarkets own brand.

Following the cup of tea analysis and a breakdown of the good and bad from the Goresbrook fielding display from the senior table (Friend, Lowe, Atkins and Gillham) a rescue tea had been created by the Tillingham WAGs. Apparently they had popped down to the local shops (possibly a 20 mile drive away as we didn’t see anything nearby) and got what was needed to be able to provide a very adequate snack that included cheese and ham sandwiches (yes Fords at Newbury Park - Ham), a plate of ham, pork pies, biscuits and KitKats and crisps. Certainly not a classic but in the circumstances it was certainly very good.

Friend and Lowe opened for Brook as they chased an unlikely 178 for victory. The pair batted superbly without giving a chance as they looked to see off the opening bowling. Following an opening three maidens the pair looked to attack Ashworth and runs started to come freely from him while Akers kept it very tidy from the other end.

Lowe was getting into his stride and both he and Friend were driving the ball nicely but the Tillingham covers fielder was in inspired form, saving at least six boundaries with full length dives. Lowe fell though for 20 in the 15th over, Akers bowling him with a delivery that kept a little low on the dying pitch. Jones was next in and smashed Ashworth for a straight four second ball before becoming bogged down while Friend was starting to look dangerous.

Mason replaced Akers and was soon in the wickets as he saw of Friend who had finally found his way past the cover fielder with two glorious shots for four. Attempting to go big, Friend only found Corby at deep square leg and he took a fine catch to dismiss the big opener for 28.

Jones was joined by Gillham Jnr at the crease and the pair put on just nine before Lee Jones was plumb lbw to Mears who had replaced the expensive Corby. Alfie Atkins came and went without scoring, bowled by Mears before Adama joined Gillham Jnr. The Robert Clack pair were excellent. Adama playing some powerful shots at one end whilst Gillham nudged and nurdled into the gaps. Runs were being scored freely as they played with maturity and frustration was evident from the Tillingham fielders.

Adama was becoming more confident which was to be his undoing as he looked to play more expansive shots and he was finally caught by Potten for an excellent 16 off the bowling of Mason. Gillham Snr joined his son at the crease for three balls before walking back to the pavilion having registered his second successive duck and was replaced by Paul Atkins. He and Gillham Jnr put on a further 22 runs to push Brooks score onto 121 for 7 before the pocket-sized wicketkeeper batsman was dismissed for a fine 23, lbw playing backwards to Mears who finished with 5-19.

Kumar couldn’t repeat last weeks heroics and was caught second ball and Dairo was then run out for nought as Brook tried to get to 125 runs to secure a batting point. Bist came out to bat with one ball left at the non strikers end as Paul Atkins looked to score a boundary to secure a point but this wasn’t achieved.

Following the 56 run defeat Brooks captain said 'It was a fine effort by the team we had out today. A big thanks to Keith Friend and Paul Lowe for getting everyone here and to those and Paul Atkins for their help in getting the youngsters through the day. We took a very experienced side to the full 80 overs which was a victory itself. The kids learnt a lot, mainly that they need to concentrate for a full 40 overs of cricket and that they cannot switch off. They and the club as a whole though will benefit from this experience. Nirbhay Bist and Itihas Adama have done themselves proud with their performances and they will be unlucky to be overlooked for further Saturday action based on those performances against a side second in the league'.

Keith Friend was also delighted with the effort of the young team 'I'm proud of the way you played today, you can all be proud of yourselves, well done' the big man said in the end of game Goresbrook huddle.

The third string take on Hornchurch Athletic 3s at home next Saturday as they look to return to winning ways.