Brookweald 1st XI vs South Weald CC, Sat 1st XI

Winning the toss, South Weald elected to bat on what looked to be a very hot day.

Despite some good opening spells from the Brookweald opening bowlers, the South Weald batsmen went to work going at a steady 6 an over for the first 10. They were able to build further on this and by the 15th over, had reached an opening stand of 100.

It wasn’t too much longer however that Javed made the crucial breakdown trapping Palmer LBW for 30. This didn’t stop Hull however who managed to keep finding the boundary despite some tight bowling spells from Brookweald. By the 25th over, South Weald had reached 150 setting it up to accelerate further.

Finch however made the breakthrough bowling Hull for a well made 94. This seemed to bring Brookweald right back in the game which they capitalised on, taking another 4 wickets in the next 10 overs for 30 runs. This then brought C Townson to the crease who alongside Pye managed to put on a 60-run partnership off the last 9 overs with some late hitting to bring the final score up to 257.

Notable scores: Hull 94, Pye 92 | Verma 6-2-23-1, Javed 9-2-33-1

The Brookweald response didn’t get off to the best of starts with SW taking two early wickets including the key wicket of Verma. This brought Finch to the crease who looked to counter the SW bowlers from the start and hitting some well timed boundaries. BW looked to be cruising but P Stroud managed to make the vital breakthrough dismissing Finch.

Despite the breakthrough SW just couldn’t stop BW from getting a boundary an over who looked to be cruising to the target. By the time drinks were taken with 15 overs to go, Naqvi had reached his 50 and BW were 190-4. A rehydrated SW team however took back to the field with a new renewerd sense of energy. Pummell doing most the damage and ripping through the lower order including the wicket of Naqvi. Austin more than backed up the other end bowling a terrific spell keeping the pressure on.

With Brookweald needing 40 off of the last 5 overs, P Stroud came back into the attack and took the final wicket to leave SW eventual winners by 37 runs in what was a competitive but well spirited game. Pummell finished with 4 wickets for 16 runs, P Stroud 2 wickets for 34 runs whilst Austin was unfortunate to only end up with 1 wicket having bowled well. Naqvi was the pick of the BW batters finishing on 63.