4th XI Vs Loughton 5th

Most of the countries eyes were focused on events happening across the Channel on Saturday evening. They perhaps should have been looking at the back pitch of the OCG where a dramatic finish led to 25 points for the Brentwood 4th XI in what, on paper at least, was a dominating 149 run victory over Loughton 5th XI. Those that were there know that it was anything but straight forward.

The day started with eyes looking to the sky and questioning the forecast for rain as the sun beat down. Loughton weren’t possessed with the strongest of sides so their skipper opted to field when he won the toss. The team talk for the batting side came from Dan Ranns and the aim was for a score of around 230 in 35 overs. Openers Roger Mahaedo & Barry Brooks started off watchful against the young Loughton attack before pushing on when they settled to reach 66 off the first 15 overs. The young spinner Kanwar Greywal then took 3 wickets in his next four overs, first trapping Brooks LBW for 23. In his next over Mahaedo (39) hit a short delivery to cover where the Loughton skipper Bridges juggled the catch but clung on. Then, after a couple of thwacks to the boundary by both Ryan Pocock and Hardik Dalal (16), the latter misjudged a Greywal delivery that turned and bowled him through the gate. Between the 2nd and 3rd Greywal dismissals, Nirav Parekh also departed chasing a wide one that he floated to gully for a simple catch off of Hamid bowling at the other end. This then brought the 11th hour replacement for his old man, George Bull to the crease to join Pocock. After safely watching a couple of overs through til drinks Bull then opened his scoring account with a big 6 over deep mid-on. Pocock departed for 22 after being struck in front not long after bringing Matty Bulmer out to the middle. He played a nice supporting role to Mr Bull as they put on 54 for the 6th wicket before Bulmer holed out to deep mid-wicket for 13. Bull then breezed through the 40’s to 49 as Brentwood headed towards 200. Shane Rozario hit the first ball he faced to the boundary for 4 to put Brentwood on 196 from 34 overs. With Bull facing he lost a bit of discipline trying to get his 50, but he got there off the third ball of the over with a 4 to deep backward square. Next ball, Bull advanced down and was stumped for 53 and with Brentwood on 200 and the predicted rain not looking far away, captain Ranns made the decision that he was happy with that total and the players headed to tea, with Loughton needing to face at least 50 overs in their innings if they were to salvage a draw with their weakened batting line up.

As a precautionary measure, the Brentwood team made sure to cover the wicket (mostly) whilst they went for tea. During the break, the heavens opened and dumped the rain down on the club house where the players took shelter. Whereas the rest of the division had to abandon their matches, the excellent facilities at the OCG meant that following the delay, there was still a possibility of play resuming as the rain finally went away. The experienced Loughton captain, knowing the situation didn’t favour his side, then set about various delaying tactics as the overs reduced as the clock ticked on. A small gap in the covers had allowed some water to fall onto the wicket which Bridges made a big deal of, then despite batting at no.9, he had to go and collect his bag and pads before deciding whether his side would come out to bat. Eventually, the game got back underway with the equation being that Brentwood had 24 overs to bowl out Loughton to win the match.

Bull and Ranns opened the bowling with Loughton sending in their two most experienced batsman to frustrate the hosts. Bull was looking sharp and beating the outside edge but Ranns struggle to find his line and length so after in the 7th over with 0 wickets down he swapped himself for left arm spinner Nirav Parekh. Loughton wicket keeper Tony Greywal watched one ball then made the odd decision to dance down the wicket to the second, with the ball beating the wild swing followed by Pocock whipping the bails off, Brentwood had their first wicket. Young opening bowler Ali Choudhry then came to the crease and in the next over, edged Bull to first slip where Brooks unfortunately dropped the catch. After moving out of the slip position into a close catching mid-wicket for the spin of Parekh, Brooks atoned for his error by holding onto a high catch over his head to remove the other opener Jani. 15 overs to go, 8 wickets needed. Choudhry and K.Greywal then frustrated Brentwood until there were 7 overs to go with only one chance going down after Jake Walker dropped a catch. To try and make up for the drop, skipper Ranns threw the ball his way and said “have a bowl”. What followed can only be described as absolute scenes!!

Over 18 – Walker removes Greywal with a beauty of an inswinger that Greywal left and lost his middle stump. Wicket maiden, 7 wickets to win

Over 19 – After not offering a sniff to the Brentwood fielders since his early edge, Choudhry’s valiant stand ends as he hits a full toss to Brooks fielding in close off of Parekh. Nirav, in his first game of the season ends with figures of 7-3-6-3. With fielders all around the bat, Dan Ranns dropped a chance to make it 4 for Parekh as his foot gave way from under him at silly point. 6 wickets to win.

Over 20 -  another wicket maiden for Walker as he bowls Hastings. 4 overs left, 5 wickets to win.

Over 21 – Rozario bowls a tight over going for just 1 run. 3 overs left, 5 wickets to win.

Over 22 – Bring the rain back, Walker is on fire. First ball, Syed LBW. Second ball, G.Hamid clean bowled. Hat-trick ball…beamer at the skipper…no one in the field minded after the antics between innings…Bridges then got off the mark on the fourth ball…fifth ball, another dot…sixth ball, M.Greatorex flicked one off his pads straight to the waiting Mahaedo at backward square to give Walker a 5-for. Number 10 J.Greatorex showed some aggression in attacking the last ball of the over but skipper Bridges had no intentions of risking any more running. 2 overs to go, 2 wickets to win

Over 23 – With Rozario not quite forcing the batsman to play in his first over, Bull returned, this time from the road end, and within two balls the game was finished. Both batsmen out bowled with the Brentwood team elated and 25 points to the good!

On most other days George Bull would have walked away with the man of the match award but given his return of 3-2-2-5, that accolade went to Jake Walker. It truly was a game changing spell of bowling that was the catalyst for Loughton collapsing from 42-2 to 51 all out.

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