Burnham II 147-4 beat Evercreech I 146 by 6 wkts

Burnham II 147-4 beat Evercreech I 146 by 6 wkts

BURNHAM bounced back from defeat against Uphill Castle (see report on page 55) with a comfortable win in this Bank Holiday fixture.

After Evercreech elected to bat first, Burnham made an early breakthrough, with G. White bowled by Cain Harding for nine.

However, new batsman P. Belcher (30) and the impressive Wood were undeterred, constructing a stand of 60, before Andy Birkett bowled Belcher, and then had Sealey trapped leg before wicket in his next over.

Wood brought up his 50 off 69 balls in the 29th over, and with both he and Holdway striking boundaries with apparent ease, Evercreech were in a commanding position at 116-3.

The dismissal of Wood (54), however, triggered a major collapse, with Ever-creech’s last seven wickets falling for 30 runs, as James Annison (3-35) and Harding (5-41) mopped up the tail.

In reply, Burnham got off to a great start thanks to some lacklustre bowling from the Evercreech openers.

They were almost halfway to their target by the time Pete Gaylard (23) fell in the 14th over, and Gavin Clifton and Andy Ashfold ensured Burnham were always ahead of the required rate.

Clifton was particularly aggressive, scoring three sixes in an innings of 35 from 19 balls. Such was the dominance of Burnham’s batsmen that numerous balls were lost as they disappeared over the short boundaries.

After Clifton was adjudged leg before wicket, Jake Harding was dismissed for a golden duck, and Ashfold fell to an outstanding catch from A White for a classy 52.

By then, however, victory for Burnham was almost inevitable, and Darren Aston duly struck the winning boundary to win the match with over 20 overs to spare.