Sunday side finally going up

Goresbrook’s quest to gain promotion to the Essex Sunday League Premier Division, foiled at the final hurdle for the past four years, was finally achieved, although by the minimum possible margin and not before Gidea Park & Romford gave the Dagenham side an almighty scare.

Going into the game, Gidea Park were the only side who could prevent unbeaten Goresbrook from winning the East Division, but they needed to win and restrict Goresbrook to less than 5 bonus points in doing so. Once Gidea Park won the toss and inserted Goresbrook, the equation for Brook became 225 runs to clinch promotion and for much of the innings that target looked to be well within their grasp, as 16 year old Charlie Thompson (51) and 14 year old Adi Kumar (49) took the score to 117-1 after the early loss of Kurt Whisker.

However both fell in quick succession and were followed by Shane Barwick and Jordan Harris, reducing Goresbrook to 141-5 with 10 overs remaining. Jordan Calverley (29) and Kane Messenger (27*) then ensured that Goresbrook set a challenging target, but the loss of momentum in the middle overs meant that Goresbrook closed on 207-8, good for 4 batting points, but meaning Brook still needed to take 3 wickets to clinch the title.

The early overs suggested a close encounter as Tarr and Donnelly looked to play aggressively, taking 20 from the first two overs before Shaun Ross yorked Tarr. From the other end, after a loose first over, Joe Barwick demonstrated an impressive length and as Goresbrook started to dry the runs up, Shane Barwick trapped Donnelly lbw to leave the hosts on 75-2 and Goresbrook requiring just one more wicket.

However that final wicket proved hard to come by as the hosts Saturday captain Jamal Francis started to move through the gears and in tandem with Matt Burch, took the score on to 160-2 with Gidea Park now requiring 49 from the final 7 overs. At that stage, the Goresbrook nerves were starting to show, but in the nick of time Kane Messenger induced an edge that skipper Jordan Harris pouched behind the stumps. Farrow immediately followed for a duck, but then Francis took over, advancing to a fine century, seeing his side home off the first ball of the final over, finishing 103*.

Goresbrook captain Harris was ecstatic after the game and paid tribute to his young side,

“We’ve been knocking on the door for the last 5 years and although we’ve always used this league as a way to get younger players playing with first teamers on decent pitches, this year has probably been our toughest in terms of getting a competitive side out. We’ve had to go down as far as the under 13’s at times, but everybody who has played has contributed and Adi Kumar, who is still only 14, has been superb over the last few games.

We’re going to be playing some very strong sides in the Premier Division next season, so hopefully we can focus on this league a bit more and get a few more of our top players out on a Sunday.”

Team Photo (including players used during the season who didn’t play on Sunday)

L-R (back) Danny Gillham snr (& dog), Joe Barwick, Jordan Calverley, Kurt Whisker, Aaron Scott, Charlie Thompson, Harry Jackson, Kane Messenger, Jordan Harris, Shaun Ross
L-R (front) Lee Jones, Danny Gillham jnr, Adi Kumar, Shane Barwick