1st XI Vs Chingford CC

Chingford 170ao (49.5 overs)

Brentwood 174-1 (37.2 overs)

Brentwood won by 9 wickets

Brentwood produced a thoroughly impressive all-round performance to produce a commanding victory over previously unbeaten Chingford.

The tone of the day was set from the start by opening bowlers Joe Buttleman and Max Osborne, as the first eight overs went for just 15 runs. From that point, Chingford were never able to get any momentum in their innings, with change bowlers Aaron West and Anthony Giles maintaining that pressure on Chingford’s batsmen, with the former picking up two wickets in a rare 10-over spell.

Throughout this time, Brentwood were impressive in the field, ensuring there were no easy runs for the Chingford batsmen; that was epitomised by a direct hit run out of Chingford’s Australian allrounder Shaun Eaton by Gareth James, on his Brentwood League debut.

That pressure continued when spin was introduced as late as the 30thover, as Ian Belchamber picked up two wickets in his first two overs, including that of Daniel Lawrence, a 16 year old who had made a patient 51.

With Chingford 116-6, in the 33rdover, they were intent to bat time, picking up occasional boundaries. As a result, Chingford crawled to 170, with the final wicket falling to the penultimate ball of the scheduled 50 overs, when Giles bowled Liam Lannen.

In truth, Brentwood were unsure where that score rated against a par total. The wicket had no great demons in it, but was slow enough that scoring could prove tricky against accurate bowling. However, any doubts were quickly put to the back of Brentwood’s minds as openers Jon Walford and Aaron West got off to a solid start, regularly finding the boundary.

Walford got to 50 first, his first of the season and was quickly followed by West. Walford was unfortunate to hole out to a Lawrence full toss; incoming batsman, David Hammond, almost produced an instant mirror image of that dismissal, but was fortunate to survive.

However, from that point onwards, Brentwood could move into cruise control, getting to the finishing post with 13 overs to spare. Hammond finished with a quickfire 33, whilst West made an impressive unbeaten 82.

Next week, Brentwood host local rivals Shenfield in the last of the 50 overs games, before moving to the all day format the week after.