Gidea Park and Romford fall to Archie Dias and Goresbrook

Goresbrook U9's travelled to Gidea Park and Romford on Friday evening and put in an impressive and mature performance.
Asked to bat first skipper Stanley Sleight and his brother Albert were Brooks first pair and the experienced pair put on 19 without loss in their 4 overs Stanley hitting two boundaries in his 13 and Albert scoring 2.
The second pair of Grace Wood and Albie Smith benefited from plenty of extras in their partnership of 25 but both remained undefeated.
Debutant Harry Ivory was paired with Liam Elsom and lost 3 wickets in their first seven balls against GPR's best bowlers Efe and Zaraar but thereafter recovered to add 12 runs Ivory playing a fine square drive that stopped just short of the boundary on a suprisingly damp surface and Elsom playing deftly into the gap behind square.
The fourth pair was Archie Dias and another debutant in 6 year old Ollie Fredericks. The boys were also undefeated in adding 18 runs in their four overs.
Having only nine players Grace Wood batted again with Phillipe Thoufick and this pair added 16 runs though both were dismissed once.
This took Brook to a solid 265-5 under terriers rules.

Stanley Sleight 13* Albert Sleight 2* Archie Dias 2* Ollie Fredericks 0* Grace Wood 1 Phillipe Thoufick 0
Albie Smith 0* Grace Wood 1* Harry Ivory 2 Liam Elsom 4

The home teams reply started solidly enough but a sparkling catch by Phillipe Thoufick off Grace Wood put GPR under pressure and from there on in wickets fell at a metronomic rate. Archie Dias grabbed three wickets in his three overs: one bowled and to catches from Thoufick again and an impressive diving effort by Albie Smith at midwicket.
Liam Elsom bowled a tight line and grabbed a wicket in his second over, as did Stanley Sleight.
Phillipe Thoufick took 2-2 bowling both his victims and Harry Ivory took a wicket in his first over as well as effecting a run out.
Ivory's fellow debutant Ollie Fredericks impressed in his two overs hitting the stumps for his maiden wicket.
Albie Smith added to his earlier impressive catch with a direct run out and two maidens in which he was unlucky not to take a wicket.

Albert Sleight 0-9 Grace Wood 1-8 Archie Dias 3-13 Liam Elsom 1-9 Stanley Sleight 1-7 Phillipe Thoufick 2-2
Harry Ivory 1-8 Ollie Fredericks 1-3 Albie Smith 0-0

Goresbrook dismissed GPR for 199 taking 12 wickets to win the game by an impressive margin of 66 runs.

Overall coaches Dave Whisker and Owen Elsom were impressed with the performance, especially the huge reduction in wides from previous seasons. With the next game this coming Sunday against Upminster the youngsters will have an opportunity to continue their development and hone the improvements made over the winter during training at Jo Richardson School.