Thurrock III 171/8
Burnham Sports II 172/4
By Happy P Gilmore
THURROCK suffered only their second defeat of the season in this six wicket reversal but due to results elsewhere it was enough to knock them off the top of the table and back to second place.
This was always going to be a difficult match for Thurrock for a number of
reasons.
The fixture took place at Burnham-on-Crouch, a few minutes from
Michael Parker’s house, and in his wisdom he decided to invite some of the team
up the night before for a FEW drinks! Things did not improve at the ground when
the second team were on the phone as an emergency had left them a player short.
This meant that Callum Brady had to quickly drive off to reinforce them leaving
the Thirds a man and more importantly a bowler light.
Thurrock batted first and openers Diprose and Day were removed cheaply to leave the visitors reeling on 4/2.
Luckily for Thurrock the middle order fired and contributions from Groves
(33), skipper Owen (36) and also the Peter Pan of cricket, Stuart Warren (52)
bought the visitors back into the contest. Things looked brighter still when
groom to be Dean "monk" Wright guided and sometimes running out the tail to
help himself to 33 runs as Thurrock posted 171 off their 40 overs.
After being sabotaged at the tea break with sandwiches that we thought were egg mayonnaise, and offers of loads of cake, it soon become apparent that Burnham had been hatching plans.
As well as fattening up the already rotund Thurrock bowling attack with delicious food, they also had a more sinister plan. They have a side in the Premier Division and their second team is in Division 9 which means when all their players are available, inevitably a few premier players creep into division 9 cricket to score some cheap runs.
This time it was the turn of opener Nick Gosling, to be fair he is a good bat, but if his mouth could hold a bat, he would surely make the England side!
Unfortunately for Parker and Warren, he knew them from previous clubs and they enjoyed extra helpings of his "banter".
Sure enough Gosling did bat very well and helped himself to 93 before
he was bowled middle stump by seamer and David Bumble Lloyd lookalike, Rob
Bundock.
Stuart Warren also helped himself to a brace of wickets, both caught at slip by Alan Fullbrook, in what could possibly be the record for oldest combined age of a dismissal! Dean Wright took the last wicket but Burnham in reality cruised to victory and Thurrock can only hope that they repeat this level of performance next week against title rivals Tillingham, in what would is a local derby for Burnham against their old rivals.
