3s Suffer First Defeat

The 3’s travelled to Woodbridge this weekend with the hope of the rain holding off to get the game underway. After losing the toss, Maldon were inserted into bat on a very soft and soggy pitch.

Both Maldon openers were dismissed early, with Jamie Goldstein being caught and Barnesy being narrowly run-out thanks to a direct hit from the opposition fielder. Other wickets continued to fall at regular intervals, with Jamie Brown getting in the Euro’s spirit with an excellent first touch in front of middle stump that saw him given out LBW, and Smudger getting the slightest of edges to one down the leg side, a ball in which we would normally see him dispatch into the trees.

Oliver Hull played some nice shots during his time at the crease, but alike the rest of the team, found it difficult to break the tight Woodbridge inner ring. Ben Foster, in at number 9, played some unorthodox flat-bat shots to reach 24…the only player to reach double figures in a low first innings total of 85 All Out for Maldon. Callum Figg was the last wicket to fall, albeit to an excellent diving catch at gulley.

In return, Callum did not wait around long to get his revenge, striking 3rd ball finding the edge of the Woodbridge skipper, which was smartly taken low down by Barnes at gulley. Maldon didn’t take too long to strike again when the other opener was given LBW, just the third time in his innings he was struck straight in line with the stumps. From here, Woodbridge looked relatively comfortable chasing down the rest of the runs, despite Keith Sharp’s best efforts in a very economical but frustrating 11 over spell, where he deserved more than the 1 wicket he got.

Woodbridge resultantly won by 7 wickets. A disappointing result but one that the 3’s will look to put right in their next league fixture.