Hard fought win for 3s

A much changed third string travelled to the stunning Great Claydons farm on Saturday afternoon to take on fellow promoted side East Hanningfield and Great Burstead 2s. Last seasons games were tight affairs with spoils being shared and this encounter in chilly conditions was eagerly awaited on all sides.

Goresbrook made numerous changes to the previous weeks winning side with the highlight being the recall of Qasir Mumtaz who Saturdays have been taken up taking selfies at various bus stops within the East London area.

With a young middle order to look after Skipper Gillham decided to bat on winning the toss and the Brook opened up with Lowe, promoted from the 4s and Mathew Jones. The pair were watchful at first against the good medium pace of Fowler and the erratic, slightly slower Sanullah. Jones started carving behind point early on to bring him some runs whilst Lowe looked to rock back and play through the covers.

Neither batsman were any undue pressure and the pair steadily built a solid foundation with Jones impressing with an excellent lofted cover drive that fell just short of a maximum. Lowe meanwhile thundered several orthodox cover drives up the hill that just failed to reach the fence.

With the score on 88 and drinks taken, Burstead introduced Patel to the attack to try and stem the flow of runs and it worked second ball. Lowe misjudged an excellent delivery that pitched on middle and turned enough to catch Lowe in front of his off stump. The umpire didn’t immediately make the decision but in time his finger rose to send the opener back to the excellent pavilion. Lowes dismissal for 35 brought in the evergreen Keith Friend.

Friend joined Jones but not for long. Jones was trapped in front to the second ball of Patel's second over to a quicker decision to send the Under 19 manager back for a fine 42.

With 14 year old Gillham joining friend at the crease and two other 14 year olds to follow the situation was built for Friend. Trading dots, the pair saw out six overs for just seven runs before the smaller of the two batsman edged behind for just one off 22 deliveries.

Alfie Atkins was next in and his greater power enabled him to lift the ball over the tight circle of fielders while Keith Friend started to find his rhythm and find the gaps. Although Atkins fell for just 8 the pair put on 24 important runs. Bist was next in and his youthful energy was needed as by this stage Friend was happy to run ones and twos for fun. They put on 32 for the fifth wicket with Bist scoring just 7.

The re-emergence of the Cobra saw Brook push the score onto 164 at the close of the innings with the excellent Friend unbeaten on a terrific 45 as he remains unbeaten for the season.

Prior to the response from Great Burstead, tea was taken.

A four tray selection of sandwiches was available with the authors favourite of tuna available. Ham salad and cheese sandwiches were also on offer much to the dismay of a certain youngster who dislikes anything but ham on its own. The cheese and tomato sandwiches were sporadically selected.

To make up for this were warm sausage rolls that went down very well but the cheese version of these which were cold, although catering for the vegetarian, were not popular. Quartered pork pies were a big hit especially when selected with the hot southern fried potato wedges that were not seen by the back end of the queue due to their popularity. French bread with mild and mature cheddar finished off the savoury section

A tray of penguin style chocolate biscuits gave a sugar hit to those who needed it alongside the chocolate and toffee squares. The highlight though was the round shortbread biscuits that were perfect for one dunking, one bite with a hot cup of tea.

Again the major disappointment of the excellent Great Burstead tea is the lack of clotted cream. If scones and jam are to be served then so should clotted cream, the three items should only ever be seen together and never apart.

Following his light tea, Skipper Gilham gave the new ball to Khondakar and Mumtaz. Khondakar was on the money from the start, bowling a decent line and length whereas Mumtaz's rust showed as he worked the wicket keeper with several wide deliveries. When he got it right though he was impressive.

Following a tight start the East Hanningfield openers began to open up. Hamilton was in good nick off the back of a century last week whereas Linahan is a wily cricketer who loves to cut any ball that is just short of a length.

The only chance of a dismissal in the first dozen overs came by way of excellent fielding from Khondakar at fine leg who's excellent throw was gathered by Gillham Jnr who broke the stumps and Linahan survived a very close decision much to the dismay of Paul Atkins who had just been introduced into the attack.

Atkins first over was poor, but from there he stepped up a gear. The eldest of the clubs numerous Atkins members who is approaching his 500th wicket bowled superbly, moving the ball in and away from the batsman at will and at times with excellent pace.

Gillham, now into the attack at the other end reaped rewards as Hamilton and Linahan tried to score runs from him but he produced a ball of pure quality to dismiss the home sides skipper for 31. An excellent ball swung from leg to middle and the opener was trapped in front lbw as the home side lost their first wicket for 57.

Hamilton continued and hit a huge six off Gillham that resulted in a replacement ball which proved to be the openers undoing as Gillham removed him lbw for 29 a handful of balls later. Brooks tail was now up and Gillham got his and the teams third, comprehensively bowling Mason for a duck. To reduce the hosts to 81-3.

At the other end Atkins finally got his reward. His seventh over was a thoroughly deserved double wicket maiden. First up he bowled Patel who for some reason decided to run down the wicket to 'Bev', then three balls later the burly seamer bowled Brooks for a duck as he returned fine figures of 2-27 from ten straight overs.

With the home side now on 81-5 victory looked assured and youngster Bist took two wickets to further cement Goresbrook ascendency. Bowling with a nagging line and moving the ball subtly into a right handed batsman Bist grabbed his first with a good catch from Qasir Mumtaz at mid-off and the second by an excellent catch from Keith Friend.

Friend was fielding at midwicket when Gant looped the ball up towards square leg, Friend brook into a sprint and full length dive to his right saw him scoop the ball just as it was about to hit the ground. This excellent catch was in contrast to a simple earlier drop by Alfie Atkins off his father as he spilt one at mid-off.

Smith and Fowler made Goresbrook wait for victory with a stubborn stand of 26 for the eighth wicket before Mumtaz came back to clear up the tail to finish with excellent, but very flattering figures of 3-14.

Goresbrook won by 35 runs and next week take on Woodham Mortimer at home.