A great start to a winning day was had when captain, Andy Phipps, won the toss and elected to bat first on a glorious day at Drapers Farm as the 3rd XI welcomed Copford 2nd XI.
Jamie Goldstein and Andy Barnes took to the crease to start Maldon off strong. However, a wicket soon fell when Barnes was trapped LBW by Copford’s opening bowler, leaving Maldon 21-1 off 7 overs. Luke Reeve joined Goldstein at the crease for a quick fire 15 run partnership however fell for 1 LBW off the first change bowler in the 12th over. Phipps got off to a good start and a 48-run partnership was had with Goldstein making his 50 before Phipps was trapped LBW by the same bowler as Reeve.
Joe Figg made 1 run before getting caught after chipping one in the air. 10 runs were made before Alex Strong was caught out for 4, a very difficult catch for them! Angus Beames joined Goldstein at the wicket and a good partnership got going. 31 runs later Beames for 7 was caught after smashing a full toss towards the boundary. Oliver Hull made his way to join Goldstein at the crease. After scoring 5 in 9 overs to some very tight bowling, Hull unfortunately skied one and was caught out.
Finn Jones looked to make a strong start, backing up his partner at the other end for 20 minutes before being clean bowled by the opening bowler in his second spell. Callum Figg joined Goldstein before being caught for 1 run. Luke Sanders joined Goldstein, who looked to step up his significant score of 94. A few dot balls later and Goldstein (pictured) was caught and bowled by the opening bowler.
After a strong batting innings, Maldon were looking to defend 153 in the 45 overs they had to field. Jones and Sanders took the ball and began a fantastic opening spell between them. Sanders taking the first wicket in the 4th over and Jones joining him immediately in the over following had Copford on 8-2 off 5.
At the end of this opening bowling partnership, Maldon were looking on top with Copford on 21-2 off 11. C.Figg joined Sanders in bowling, giving a quick 4 over spell for 21 runs. At the end of Sanders’ 9 over spell he had 2 wickets for only 11 runs. The next bowling partnership was found in Beames and Reeve, both maintaining the tight bowling given by the other bowlers. Beames got a wicket in his 4th over when Jones took a brilliant catch.
At the end of this pairing’s spell, Copford were on 88-4 off 26. Hull and Beames had a short 3 over partnership, again maintaining the quick tight bowling from both ends. Sanders and Reeve took back over the bowling at their respective ends. Sanders finished his 12 overs for the day on a fantastic 20 runs for 4 wickets with one maiden over. Reeve kept his bowling close and was gifted with an amazing clean bowled wicket in his last over. Jones joined Reeve in bowling the last 10 overs of play, bringing 2 wickets to his name while Phipps got a run out off Jones’ spell as well. With 4 balls left in his over, Jones bowled and J.Figg stumped in order to end the Copford batting innings with them requiring 3 to draw and 4 to win. Jones finished with stats of 30 runs for 3 wickets from 11.3 overs.
A fantastic game of cricket all around, great weather and an amazing win for Maldon III team!
Maldon Cricket Club 
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