July 29, 2023

Brigade on the brink but rain threatens to spoil the party

Only 41 overs’ play was possible on Day 2 of the Sports Hub senior cup final however it was enough to put Brigade on the verge of their fourth competition win in the past six years as they took complete control of this year’s decider.

Newbuildings had started 55 runs behind from Friday’s first innings and last year’s beaten finalists were soon in trouble as a fired up Andy Britton led from the front with a superb spell of new ball bowling.

Jason Dunn (23) was the only resistance of note as Britton and the Macbeth brothers- Scott and Ryan-saw the village side lose eight wickets before they had a lead of 25 runs overall.

The Brigade skipper bowled his 10 overs straight to return stunning figures of 5-18 with Scott chipping in with 2-36.

Newbuildings’ batting had folded but with rain around, the message had clearly gone out to the tailenders to dig in- and that they did valiantly.

Charlie Downey faced 50 balls for his 12 while Trent McKeegan made 13 not out from 51- that pair and then Gregory McFaul (6*) adding just 32 runs to the score in 18 overs before McFaul sent the last ball bowled to the boundary.

The ploy worked well to an extent- the subsequent rain wiping out the rest of the day’s play, however with DLS now in the mix, the Newbuildings innings was timed out at 114-9 in the 41st over.

The DLS recalculation now means Brigade only have a maximum 20 overs to bat on Sunday, however their target is a meagre 37 runs to win.

They’ll be hoping for enough break in the cloud to get out for an hour on Day 3 although an another abandonment would mean the game being washed out with a one-innings replay on Bank Holiday Monday at the end of August.