5s deprived by rain

Goresbrook 5ths played their first game of the season on Saturday and were deprived of a probable victory by the weather.

Batting first after winning the toss Paul Lowe and George Sleight played circumspectly on a difficult pitch but both soon got to grips with the bounce and began to play freely, mixing up boundaries and singles before U13 all-rounder Sleight tried cutting a ball that rose on him and chopped on to his own stumps for 17 with the score on 34.

Next in was Ted Ivory who looked to keep the runs ticking over as he nudged singles and rotated the strike with Paul Lowe this pair taking the score on to 74 when Lowe smashed a leg stump full toss straight into the hands of the Square Leg fielder having compiled an otherwise chanceless 44 runs.

With 11 overs left new batsman Maciah Prigg was under instructions to drive things along and scoring at almost a run a ball he did just that but in so doing rather overestimated the length of Ted Ivory’s strides and called for a risky second that saw Ivory unfortunately run out for 8 and fell himself soon after to a juggled catch at mid wicket.

Next in was Ithias Adama who kept the run rate moving as he compiled an undefeated 24 at just shy of a run a ball with cameos by Mark Sleight and Nirbhay Bist helping Brook close the innings on 132-5.

With tea not quite ready, despite Mrs Elsom’s voluntary assistance accounting for 4 pizzas and 4 loaves of sandwiches, Wickford began their innings and had lost their first wicket by the end of the 2nd over with U13 Pawanpreet Singh, making his senior debut, cutting back a beauty to knock back the stumps of the opener.

After tea Nirbhay Bist got in on the act inducing a false stroke that Ithias Adama snaffled at mid- wicket. Singh then got a second just clipping the bails to finish his spell with 2-19 from his permitted 5 overs.

Adama then entered the attack and had 3 batsmen back in the hutch, the first courtesy of a low bouncing length ball that broke the wicket and 2 catches, the first a steepler taken by Mark Sleight at point and the second a hard flat drive that Pawan Singh, perhaps to his own surprise, took at mid-on.

Matthew Elsom began to find his line but with the score on 70-6 from 20 overs the rain began falling and with forked lightning visible in the distance the players left the field. Even before the dressing rooms had been reached it was patently obvious that no further play would be possible since a river was running down from the car park towards the pitch so Skipper Owen Elsom and his Wickford counterpart called it a day with Brook on the cusp of a well-deserved maiden victory.

The scale of the storm soon became obvious as the drains behind the pavilion overflowed, the car park flooded and the route back to the A13 blocked beneath the railway bridge. Brook can only hope for better luck in their next game against Writtle 3rds.