PHIL WEST says his Emmbrook and Bearwood side are determined to end the unbeaten record of Mortimer West End on Saturday.
The Bears returned to the top of Division 1 of the Berkshire Cricket League with a convincing 112-run victory over Bradfield last weekend.
And skipper West is keen to get the better of third-placed Mortimer at Lowther Road this Saturday to preserve top spot.
“Mortimer has become a little bit of a rivalry for us with Adam (Telford) coming across to us from there last season,” West told The Wokingham Paper.
“I think there’s a little bit of extra competitive edge to the game and we always have a close game with them.
“In the last couple of years they’ve beaten us a couple of times and we’ve beaten them a couple of times. We know that on our day at Emmbrook, we’re capable of beating anybody.
“It’s just down to us.
“Mortimer are also unbeaten so far so it’s probably a bit of extra motivation for us to end their unbeaten run.”
After slipping off the top with defeat to Goring last week, Emmbrook got straight back to winning ways against Bradfield.
The hosts got off to a solid start with the bat before opener Ollie Williams fell for 35.
Andy Webb pushed on to score 85 while Sean Woodward added 35 runs to the tally.
But a tail-end collapse ensured the Emmbrook bowlers would have some work to do to stop Bradfield from chasing down the target of 217.
After a slow start, West’s charges found the breakthrough to dismiss the visitors for 104 in the 35th over with Richard Cole (5-22) and Woodward (4-30) doing most of the damage.
“We’ve got a decent batting line-up and with what happened the week before at Goring, we really concentrated on having a solid start and not losing early wickets,” said West.
“That is what we did.
“When we play at Emmbrook we know that 250 is a good score that we aim for. We were a bit short of that on Saturday but with our bowling attack, we always back ourselves to take wickets because we’ve got such strength in depth in our bowling department.
“As soon as I gave the new ball to Richard, he and Matt Howarth bowled a brilliant spell and Sean came on and took the remaining wickets.
“It was just a case of being patient.”
West hopes to bolster his squad from this weekend with the addition of some players from Reading Blue Coat School following the end of their academic year.
