Entertaining game sets players up for opening weekend

Easton & Martyr Worthy CC 1st XI v Bramshaw 1st/2nd XI, Match Report by Ethan Symonds

We arrived at the David Roth Cricket Ground on a lovely sunny day, which is rare at the moment to face a strong Easton & Martyr Worthy team. Ourselves a team put together of first and second-team players.

Captain Tom Arnold strutted his way to the pitch to toss up with the opponent captain Ben Stanbrook, in what is becoming a bit of a habit Tom lost the toss once again and we started in the bat.

Tom had a tough decision to pick from a team of all-rounders and decided to start with Charlie Anderson (47) and Thomas Winter (15), with the first ball Charlie hit a lovely drive for 4. Thomas Winter defended his wicket well against a strong opening bowling pair who last season took 36 wickets between them.

After several slow overs, Charlie drove up the score with a few 4s and a 6. Thomas was dismissed after facing 45 balls leaving the wicket with 15 runs in the 14th over. Jack Booth (37) came in and with Charlie kept the runs flowing, that partnership kept going until the 23rd over when he was caught out.

Ollie Vincent (22) steps up and starts slowly building momentum before the 28th over when he smashes a 6 into the crowd, leaving spectators diving for cover, another 6 was hit in the 30th over, this time away from the spectators but nearly hitting a car. He was caught in the 31st over leaving the score at 131/3.

Loan player, England u19 and Sydney favourite Ben Rogers (51) enters the field of play and starts quickly hitting a four with his first ball, this form continued and Jack Booth also picked up 4 and 2 runs before being dismissed in the 32nd over. Captain Tom Arnold (8*) comes in not having much to do as Rogers continues to get the runs, hitting a 6 to get 51 runs before being dismissed in the 38th over. Cam Ridley (2*) comes in for a cam-eo before the break. Bramshaw scored 205/5 after the 40 overs.

After Tea, the sunshine disappeared but that didn’t change our team spirit, Sergio D’Monte (1-36) opened and was hit for 4 on with his first ball he quickly fixed this and gave nothing away for the next few overs. Will Ridley (1-28) the second bowler took the first wicket in the 3rd over the pair kept the score low at 42/1 at the end of the 9th over.

Ethan Symonds (2-41) makes his first start of the season with the leggy being hit for 6 in his first over but recovers well and bowls out his first victim in his second over. Chris Hewlins (0-28) comes in on the 13th over bowling tidy and Jack Booth gets a run out for him. In the 22nd over Ethan Symonds gets his second wicket of the day luring the batsman to hit big but being superbly caught out by Ben Rogers on the boundary.

Tom Arnold (1-16) now bowling gets a wicket with his first ball, inside edge to the stumps in the 24th over,  Cam Ridley (0-25)  gets a maiden in the 25th over preventing the opposition from putting on the runs. The pair keep the score at 139/6 in the 30th over as another run out is gained from Tom’s bowling.

Jack Booth (1-19) gets a wicket with his first ball, Tom Arnold catching. Sergio comes back in with his second spell to see out the last few overs. Easton picks up momentum and the scoreboard creeps up with the win in sight Sergio gets a wicket with the first ball of the last over and Tom Arnold gets a run out with the last ball, the game ends tied.

In good spirits, we all look forward to the league opening next weekend.

See the full scorecard here – https://bramshaw.play-cricket.com/website/results/6245248