| Match Report |
Upminster IIIs 216-5 dec, Brentwood IIIs 152-8
Match drawn
Report by Peter Bainbridge
On the one hand, this was the first match of the season in which Brentwood IIIs avoided defeat. On the other, it was a mediocre effort from a team who really should have done better.
After allowing Upminster to score 50 runs too many, Brentwood never threatened to chase down the target and were left hanging on grimly to deny their opponents a full-points win.
The Brentwood side looked strong on paper, bolstered as it was by the inclusion of several players with second-team ambitions - a welcome change to past seasons when turning out for the IIIs seemed to have been regarded as tantamount to a slap in the face with a wet fish, so a big well done to second XI skipper Graeme Walker for helping to initiate a change in culture. However, reputations count for little and Upminster, though hardly at their strongest, were by far the better side.
One factor in the home team's favour was that they started the match with 11 players. Brentwood, after losing the toss, took to the field with just nine - not the first time it has happened, and probably not the last, but intensely irritating nonetheless.
Queues in Upminster high street caused by the town's festival were to blame for the belated arrival of Anam Hussein, but he was spared condemnation by the even tardier appearance of David Smith. Smith's journey from Brentwood took more than two hours - it should have been no more than five miles but somehow after fighting his way through Upminster's carnival-goers, Smith followed his Satnav instructions and turned right towards Romford instead of left for Coopers School, which was just 400 yards away. Even though he has played at Coopers on several occasions, Smith continued on his merry way, heading west when he needed to be going east. Only when the Satnav proudly delivered Smith to his 'destination' did he suspect something was wrong. Yes, he was at a school, but sadly it was Campion in Gidea Park, not Coopers in Upminster. So, turning back to Upminster, Smith then managed to take a wrong turn (again) and ended up negotiating Upminster high street carnival-goers for a second time. Smith's day job is as a merchant seaman so it must be hoped they do not let him anywhere near the maps and compass or else the oceans' shipping lanes will be chaos - "Portsmouth to Rotterdam? Well that's a sharp right turn, left at Land's End, head past Cape Horn, call in at the Phillipines and then straight on past Gdansk."
Anyway, Hussein arrived after five overs and made his first contribution by dropping a simple chance off Billy Hull. Smith sheepishly entered the fray after 12 overs, by which time Upminster had enjoyed something of a flier on a two-paced pitch and were 50 for none. The arrival of the full complement of fielders and a change in bowling helped plug the run rate. Mickey Payne shored up one end, and from the other Kieran Whitehall produced an impressive five-over spell. Kieran is the nephew of acting captain Dickie Whitehall and, although some four and a half feet shorter than his uncle, is obviously made of the same stuff. Bedford School's finest, aged 15, tied the batsmen down with an unerringly accurate line and length with a hint of away swing, while from the other end, West Ham's finest, aged 49, tied the batsmen down with an unerringly accurate line and length with a hint of away swing.
Payne made the breakthrough with the score on 58 courtesy of a running catch by Whitehall (Uncle Richard) and Chris Boon snr removed the other opener with some flight and guile. When Payne snapped up two more wickets in quick succession, one a smart juggling caught and bowled, the other a sharp take by Nigel Bacon behind the stumps, Upminster were 122 for four and Brentwood had hopes of keeping them to below 175. Upminster's No4 had been the subject of a confident shout for a catch off Boon which went unheeded and made the most of the possible let-off by hitting a half-century which swung the match back in his team's favour. Hull eventually removed the half-centurion but Upminster finished on a daunting 212 for five. Payne with three for 30 from 12 overs was the pick of the bowlers.
Highlight of the tea interval was Smith being interrogated forensically by a disbelieving Boon about his late arrival, closely followed by umpire Andy Jenner regaling the stragglers with a story about Essex Over-50s while the entire Upminster team and the two batsmen were in position out in the middle and looking impatiently at the pavilion.
The Brentwood reply was a procession of batsmen out playing loose shots. Sonny Willis nicked a wide leg-side delivery, Smith chipped one to midwicket, Bacon was bowled playing a wild yahoo, Boon drilled one to mid off, Whitehall snr creamed one to midwicket. Hull at least managed to hang around, hitting a fine 49 but when he was bowled playing across the line, the score had limped to 124 for seven. Young Whitehall departed at the same score and Brentwood were left needing to see out the final 10 overs to avoid total ignominy, something veterans Paul Webb (six not out from 36 deliveries) and Peter Bainbridge (13 not out from 28) achieved with little fuss.
The result keeps Brentwood rooted to the foot of the table needing a marked improvement when they face local rivals Shenfield this Saturday.
Scoreboard: http://essexcl.play-cricket.com/website/results/2470905
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