Comfortable win for 3rd XI

Saturday afternoon saw the return of league action for Goresbrooks 3rd XI with a home encounter against Willow Herbs 2nd XI. With heat building from the end of the working week and a good looking MABA pitch captain Gillham was urged to bat after winning the toss by his strong looking side.

With the 1st XI not having a fixture and many players still looking to get a game, all three of Brooks XIs this weekend were strong. Craig Irving and Tommy Puncher opened for the hosts and quickly set about the Herbs bowlers. Runs flowed freely as they found gaps in the field as Herbs only had nine players at this stage.

Puncher was back in form following his early exit last week and was fluent with front foot shots whilst Irving attacked anything slightly offline or length with aggression. It wasn't long before Irving was in full flow and in the fifth over the expensively and ongoingly tattooed opener struck a magnificent straight six. The same shot was ultimately to be his downfall as he holed out to long on trying to repeat his earlier feat for a fine 48.

Irving's 48 should really have been a 50 but instead of running a simple two, Puncher and Irving had decided to have a chat in the middle of the pitch after a pull from Irving had plugged in the outfield. With the fielder seemingly giving up the chase the pair stopped running even though the ball was some five yards from the boundary rope.

Puncher continued to play into the gaps and run hard and was joined by Mark Bird whose eyes lit up at the sight of Douglas's bowling. The towering Herbs skipper is from the Bridge school of drift bowling and the sight of a burly 6'6 rugby player easing the ball down at 30mph, provoked the Labrador lover into smashing a maximum off the tall right armer followed by a thunderous four, Bird clearly looking in the mood to entertain his nephew Greed jnr who was in attendance for the first time.

It wasn't all plain sailing for Bird though. With the ball starting to soften it was keeping low from the lake end and Bird was caught right in front of the stumps by youngster Keys who was the pick of the Herbs attack. Fortunately for Bird, there was no appeal so he survived to extract more value from a decent Annex pitch, despite umpire Gillham's right hand twitching by his side eager to get into the action.

Puncher and Bird kept the pressure on with some excellent running between the wickets, running the field ragged but increasingly tiring themselves out. Fatigue was certainly catching up with Puncher who had progressed nicely past his half century and on 76 he tried to go big but was caught at deep midwicket, 24 runs short of a maiden hundred. His 94 ball innings had helped take Goresbrook to 200 off just 30 overs and both stands he was involved in totalled exactly 100 runs.

Bird celebrated a half century of his own with hard run two into the off side but departed shortly after Puncher being bowled by Willows's Rickett with a delivery that moved off the seam. Lawrence Walsh then came and went without troubling the scorers as he was bowled second ball to one that kept very low, again by Ricketts, as Brook suddenly suffered a wobble, losing three for just one run.

Livett, Kumar and then Gillham Jnr steadied the innings, putting on 58 runs as Goresbrook finished on 259-5, Livett in particular ensuring that red figures would be used against his score, as the veteran right hander played watchfully to the close, using the soft ball to play in the recently applied 13th wrapping of tape on his bat.

The first home tea of the season was eagerly anticipated following a pre-season meeting between committee men and Jo's Kitchen, May and Bakers caterers. Jo and her team cater for weddings, birthdays, anniversaries, funerals and any other occasion. Get in touch with Jo via May and Bakers club to find out more.

The two teams were treated to a fine selection of sandwiches with numerous fillings, tuna again being the favourite of this reports author. The chicken nuggets were plentiful and served the younger contingent very well with Bobby Granger taking a liking. It was good to see the hot potatoes being given an early season run out alongside the mini sausage rolls and the pasta's sauce coverage was excellent. Overall a commendable if slightly carbohydrate heavy effort.

The only disappointment was that Quiche Lorraine failed to turn up. Although nice, Quiche au Fromage avec les oignions doesn’t hit the same spot and with a rotation system in place for sandwiches and teas it is hope that that 3rd XI will get visibility of Lorraine before the end of May. With Lee Jones potentially back in the 3's for the next home game, the prospect of some wiener schnitzel or apfelstrudel is also rumoured to be in consideration.

Matt Friend and Richard Williams opened the bowling after tea with Friend providing the same level of control as he did at Gidea Park a week earlier. Williams was first to strike though, the Yorkshireman beating the defences of Keys and striking the batsman on the pad. Although a thunderous appeal came from the slip cordon, the bowler merely turned and walked back to his mark and was most surprised to be greeted at the top of his run up with a wicket taking huddle. It's unsure at this stage whether Williams was merely conserving energy given his lack of off-season exercise, or whether he was genuinely unimpressed by the direction of the ball, however the umpire was in no doubt and he sent Keys back to the pavilion.

Friend then got three wickets of his own, breaking two bails bowling Higgins, Rickett and Austin as Brook exerted control of the match and reduced Herbs to 10-4. A bowling change after the inevitable Williams injury saw Walsh bowling Cornwall with a yorker first ball up, although Walsh's appearance also turned out to brief, as he was asked to clear the stage before the Bobby Granger show.

On the back of 4-7 for the Under 15s a week ago. Granger was tossed the ball and with his second ball he enticed Frobe into a false shot which was caught in the short cover vicinity by the clubs foremost exponent of 'on the drive' catching, skipper Gillham. Granger's second two overs were full of good length deliveries that had drift, turn and bounce that unsettled Douglas and the remaining opener Phillips who eventually carried his bat for the visitors.

From the other end, another colt, the wily Adi Kumar, span out Douglas, the batsman trying to decapitate the lumbering Yorkshireman who had just plonked himself at silly mid-off after a couple of blocks and succeeding only in chopping the ball onto his stumps. Granger then returned and despite Livett dropping a straightforward chance at second slip, Goresbrook's answer to Ashley Giles reaped good reward with his left arm round the wicket line of attack. Firstly Granger bowled Cook for 5 and then he sealed the game with Keys being caught by Irving to see Goresbrook home by 222 runs.

Captain Gillham was pleased with the performance, "It was important to win the toss today so we could give all the players a game. Everyone contributed to the victory and it was great to see Bobby getting some senior wickets. We'll celebrate the victory tonight, rest on Sunday and then get back to work on Monday with plans for next weekend against East Hanningfield and Great Burstead who should provide a stiffer test next Saturday."