3rd XI Vs Wanstead 3rd XI

A Glimmer of light?

The Brentwood team slowly turned up at Nutter Lane and inspected the pitch. This is always an interesting time of year as it is when the men who have been playing on quality pitches, such as the OCG, find that just for this week, they have to play on a very interesting wicket like the one at Nutter Lane

Captain Willis made his first speech of the day to the team. "Put them in - Get them out, get the runs, get 20 points"

Once it was confirmed that tea would still be included in the plan everyone seemed to be happy, even though it was a very hot day

Maxwell (8 2 38) and Hilliard (10 3 37) both bowled well as did Stone (3 0 11) and Willis got the most out of the bowlers by putting fielders in short, waiting for the dodgy bounce to occur.

Wickets fell steadily but the Wanstead batsmen kept hitting their shots knowing they had no real option on this highly discussed pitch .

The spin from Brentwood came from Payne Jr (6 1 43) and Hussein (10 2 42) and Payne Sr (5 1 17) ( not spin but slow)

Wanstead ended with 201 all out off of just 42 overs

Willis's next speech confirmed that we had done well, it was a getable score, we had  lots  of batsmen, plenty of time, we may lose a few, due to the pitch but we should keep  going  for it no matter what. We all liked that speech!

After a large tea, Willis and Sach opened the batting. Soon Willis 9 got an LBW " due to the pitch" which brought Walford to the crease. These two, even though they found batting hard, ate up time in the middle and added runs.

Walford 13 was out next not due "to the pitch" but getting caught behind and then Stone as he watched the ball trickle on to his stumps ( I'm sure he won't do that again).

Bacon 9 was then bowled "due to the pitch" and then Sach was out for a well-constructed 50.

Dawes came in and played a Dawes innings as did Hussein and everything looked rosy until Dawes obviously got caught out on the boundary for 43

Payne Jr is very lucky in the fact he can bat a lot better than Payne Sr and when Hussein fell for 23, obviously being caught on the boundary and then Maxwell, it was left to him and Hilliard to see it home.

That was until Hilliard did a stupid thing and got bowled for 3!!

With 2 more runs needed and 1 wicket left Payne Sr strode to the crease knowing that his whole team had as much confidence in him as he did himself, in getting the job done.

A strange thing then occurred Payne Jr gave Payne Sr advice. " stay in, only 2 more runs needed, just try and get a single or see out the over"

Being a number 11 batsmen for many years Payne Sr did what all number 11 batsmen do. Take all the advice in and then forget it and swing when the ball is bowled.

The ball flew past the vacant 4th slip position for 4 and the game was won. Payne Jr ended on 37 not out.

Willis's final speech of the day stated the same next week but bat a lot better!

Mick Payne