Earls Colne Versus East Bergholt 2nd XI.  Away.  Saturday June 2nd

Only two days earlier you'd have wondered if there would be any cricket at all after several days of heavy rain, and an East Bergholt pitch under an inch of water.  However, the sun shines on the righteous and we arrived at Bergholt's pitch on a a bright, warm, sunny day, and a wicket looking in pretty good condition.

Having won the toss, East Bergholt's skipper elected to bowl; the only decision in the circumstances.  Colne were out of their blocks quickly, with 34 runs on the board at the end of the 7th over.  But it wasn't to last and Oakers was out with a cameo 27, followed straight after by Himesh (caught at deep mid-wicket again - when will he learn?) and Willy. 

42 for 3.  Oh dear.  Luckily Dave Brooker and Rob Gibson set about repairing the damage and took the score along to past the hundred mark at the end of the 28th over, when both of them decided to run to the same end, and poor Dave was stranded, run out for 35, bringing young Will Clarke to the wicket.  Rob continued on to the 40 mark before being caught out, but Will Clarke kept his head and added a cultured 21 runs - in direct comparison to Smiffy who helped himself to a very uncultured 18!  Ballsy came in with a couple of overs to go and helped the score along to a respectable 188 for 8 at the end of the 45 overs.

Great teas as always at East Bergholt, with Devon scones, jam and cream!

East Bergholt were also out of the blocks quickly with a quickfire 40 for no loss against uninspirational bowling from TK and Smiffy, who gave way to Rob Gibson and Peter Shury, and suddenly East Bergholt started to crumble, Rob Gibson taking 5 wickets in quick succession, as well as a couple of run outs, plus a wicket for Peter Shury and it was all but over.  Bergholt looked unlikely to even reach the 100 mark, nor the 30 over mark, but they hung in and eked out a couple of points for themselves, frustrating the Earls Colne bowling until the penultimate over, when the final wicket, finally fell to Smiffy! 

Earls Colne 188 for 8.  R Gibson 40, D Brooker 35.  East Bergholt 112 all out. R Gibson 5 for 39 

Earls Colne 20 points.  East Bergholt 3 points

A great win, which leaves us equal top of the table with Bury, who also won.  In third come Woolpit who also won with full points, so there are now three teams vying for top spot.  Let's win this weekend and see if we can't shake them off.