3rd XI Vs Hainault & Clayhall 3rd XI

By Mick Payne

After a quick discussion with his fellow players, Captain Sonny Willis came to the conclusion that on a lovely baking hot day, you’ve got to bat and that’s what Brentwood did when they won the toss. Willis and Jack Payne opened the batting and even though the bowling was good it coincided with the outfield being very quick and the pair ticked the score on nicely.

With Willis giving Payne a master class on how to open the batting, they put on 141 from 23 overs before Payne was out for 60 and Willis then went shortly afterwards for 72.

A phase of batsmen nearly getting in and then getting out such as Nigel Bacon 19, David Smith 36 and Dave Balroop 16, then occurred. It was left to the Wingrove brothers to scuttle about in the end to allow Brentwood to declare on 270-7 from 50 overs, George Wingrove finishing on 28 not out

Balroop 11-0-42 and Jon Hilliard 13-1-64, opened the bowling and, similar to the Hainault bowlers, bowled well but did not pick up many wickets. Mick Payne 7-2-14 came on and got a couple, one of those being down to an excellent stumping by Ewan Smith

Tom Wingrove 10-1-28 came on and bowled beautifully but his figures, even though good, did not give his bowling the justice it deserved. Willis took three nice catches at slip but basically Brentwood couldn’t get the Hainault batsmen all out no matter who bowled. Hainault ended up on 198-6 from 52 overs.

A slightly deflated team left the field after the game but on a positive note it was great to see so many young players contributing so much to the team.