1st XI vs Westcliff-On-Sea CC, 1st XI

An arduous trip to the coast isn't always the best way to start your day. We had the task of travelling down to Chalkwell Park to play in-form Westcliff-On-Sea, who had won four of their last five games (the other was cancelled). Momentum had to be regained after last week's league wash-out. The team arrived in good spirits, despite most of them being fined for lateness! It was also Jack "Issac" Newton's birthday, so drinks would be downed later, whatever the result.

The hosts won the toss and decided to bowl on a spongey wicket. Tom A and Tom B opened the batting, and Ballington was the first to depart at the start of the fourth over. Having hit a couple of crisp boundaries, he was then bowled, with the score on 15. Arnold was the next to go in the ninth over, superbly caught by wicketkeeper Vijayakrishnan off an inside edge having scored 16. Both openers had fallen with the score on 33 to both the opening bowlers, so consolidation was required. This failed to materialise as both Caleb Seleka and Jamie Walton failed to add any runs to the total. With Ryan Plom caught and bowled for 10 at the start of the 14th over, we were in serious trouble at 45-5.

Their first bowling change brought some respite, and two of our in-form batsmen were able to stem the flow of wickets. Will Howard and Ronnie Jackson eased themselves into their innings with Jackson playing the role of aggressor. Ronnie finally got his first 50 of the season from 56 balls (10 fours) as the pair put on 86 runs for the sixth wicket. Crucially, Will was dropped on 23, skying one back to the bowler which he inexplicitly failed to keep hold of. This malaise then seemed to run through the team as a further three catches would be dropped in the innings. Ronnie fell in the 35th over, hitting one into Cow Corner, having scored 59 and helping to get us back on track towards a half-decent score. Will fell the same way six overs later, having scored 38 from 88, allowing first Ronnie, then Tom Austin, to play around him. The last nine overs saw an additional 54 runs being scored, with Tom getting the majority of them, finishing unbeaten on 37 from 41 balls. Dave Hickey (1) and Issac (14) were the other wickets to fall as we reached a defendable 205-9 from 50 overs.

Light rain had started towards the end of the innings and the covers were brought out as soon as we came off. With tea not being ready and the prospect of a delayed re-start, it looked like we were going to be the victims of an injustice not of our making. Thankfully, the rain subsided and a shorter tea was gulped down by the players and we lost only three overs. This seemed to bamboozle their opening bat, who seemed to think that it was a one over game. Not bothering to look at Tom Arnold, he tried to smash the first two balls out of the ground, being caught on the second of them!

Our next success didn't come until the 16th over, when the birthday boy had the other opener caught on the boundary with the score on 67. This was the first of his three wickets in 15 balls as the wheels fell spectacularly from the Westcliff cart. Seven wickets were to fall for 30 runs in nine overs as they were reduced to 97-8, including a first-ball wicket for Alex Rickenbach.

Despite some resistance for the ninth wicket, it didn't take long for the last two wickets to fall and a potential banana-skin was avoided as they were bowled out for 127 in the 35th over, to give us a victory by 78 runs. Having finally managed to get out of the habit of taking four wickets in a game, Caleb has now taken a second consecutive five-wicket haul, thus trying to make up for all the jugs that he had previously avoided!

We lead the table by 13 points from Harold Wood and 34 from Woodford Wells. Next up is Stanford-Le-Hope, almost certainly consigned to an instant return to Division 3. With only pride to play for, they have nothing to lose, so we can't take the game for granted, as it seems we did at Bentley. With great home support, we can get another victory in our push for promotion.