4's miss out in last over thriller

Goresbrook 4's lost out in a last over thriller away at Great Totham 3's on Saturday.
Darren Boland,
(only in a team because:a) he had a car;
b) his son was playing;
c) he was making up numbers or
d) he fully merited his place as an attacking minded batsman and a fielding dynamo*
* (delete as appropriate) ),
was first to arrive at the ground, aided by his top of the range Owen Owen sat nav -that incidentally was not in the panel of his Chelsea Tractor but in the front passenger seat, and he proceeded to walk around the entire field in search of a mobile signal to facilitate the urgent delivery of a skip to Collier Row.
The remainder of the team arrived in dribs and drabs having driven about 4 laps of the quaint hamlet of Wickham Bishops looking for the dirt track that lead to the ground.
Skipper Keith Maund won the toss and decided to bat in the bright conditions.
Lee Jones and Tommy Puncher took to the field but Jones was soon on his way back to the pavilion , his stumps being uprooted by the impressive and deceptively lively Jack Bowen . This brought the in form Jo Wilkinson to the crease and this pairing patiently build their partnership with a mixture of singles, twos and boundaries which included a trademark lusty blow for a maximum over long off by Wilkinson.
However Wilkinson fell for 41 with the score on 83 and Puncher, who had played the anchor role on a pitch that did not always behave as it ought, was joined by Darren Boland, who soon got his eye in, and this pair took the score on to 115 when Puncher was caught for 45 trying to up the pace.
Boland was joined by Billy Parnell, who ran intelligently between the wickets and ensured the score kept skipping along but the 41 year old fireman and Essex Entrepreneur of 2014, having survived a caught and bowled opportunity, fell to a long hop that then rolled onto his stumps for an entertaining 25.
Parnell began to play shots but failed to get full value for them as his bat was sounding clunkier and clunkier until an attempted drive off the returning Jack Bowen broke the bat in two. Martin Rooke played himself in quickly and had the wildlife in the hedgerow bolting for cover with an exquisite flick for six through mid wicket helping this pairing to a quickfire 50 partnership. However Rooke was unluckily run out for 22 off the penultimate ball, having turned blind for a second after a mis-field at fine leg and it was left to skipper Maund to take the score up to a healthy looking 196-5 from 40 overs. Parnell was undefeated on 36.

The Great Totham Tea soon gave way to the Great Totham run chase and the intent was clear from the off with Jack Bowen batting like Jesse Ryder for half a dozen balls before missing a corker from Frankie Boland. However the conditions made bowling difficult as the ball was swinging prodigiously and father and son Colin and Joe Davies put on 121 for the second wicket, with both men hitting fifties, helped by a four ball most overs and a smattering of wides and no balls that gave the home team an extra 19 deliveries to use in their pursuit of the target.
128 -2 soon became 131-3 as Billy Parnell came into the attack and beat the bat to allow Tommy Puncher to whip the bails off.
Keith Maund soon got in on the act removing the opposition skipper Davies LBW for 59 with the score 144-4
But this brought 69 year old Barry Gooch to the crease and despite losing two partners to the returning Owen Elsom (whose first wicket, courtesy of a catch at long off by Jo Wilkinson was his fiftieth for the club since joining from the Bee Gees in 2013) played to his strengths, dispatching anything short to the ropes to take the home team to within 4 of victory with one over to go.
With Elsom bowled out, options were limited but to his credit Billy Parnell volunteered to bowl the last over seam up. The first two balls beat the bat outside the off stump but the third delivery was straighter and a tad too short and the wily old Veteran cudgeled the ball through midwicket to leave his team victors by 4 wickets with 3 balls to spare. With Goresbrook having no home grown Terry Alderman Gooch ended up unbeaten on 35.
Whilst the game was a great advert for Division 11, and was played in a sporting manner throughout, the lesson is there to be learnt: that wides and no balls are costly and that no matter how young or old you are, you can make a significant contribution to the game.