Emmbrook and Bearwood sealed a narrow two run victory against Bradenham in a dramatic finale as they closed the gap to their opponents in the table.
Bradenham batted in the first innings and lost an early wicket as Emmbrook dismissed opening batsman Paul Huntley for just six runs as he was caught out by Amshu Bhraradwaj, bowled by Richard Cole.
James Gibbs then began a clinical bowling spell for Emmbrook as he picked up four consecutive wickets to decimate the Bradenham top order. Gibbs’ brilliant display with the ball saw Bradenham go from 34-1 to 62-5 in the matter of a few overs.
Sam Rae and Paul Smith formed a decent pairing for Bradenham as they looked to recover from their quick fall in wickets. But Emmbrook maintained their impressive bowling and fielding performance as Joe Smart and Alex Cobb took two wickets each to dismiss their opponents all out for a modest score of 112 after 32.4 overs.
Emmbrook made a disastrous start to the chase, losing three cheap wickets at the beginning of their innings. Prasad Mhatre fell for six runs and Cobb quickly followed after contributing five runs.
Bradenham’s fruitful bowling continued as Imran Khan was dismissed for two, caught and bowled by Alex Rae to leave Emmbrook in a precarious position on 13-3.
Ollie Williams began to add some runs to the board but was denied a consistent partner as the wickets continued to tumble with Jack Narraway (5), Sadiq (0) and Smart (0) all enduring very short spells at the crease. This left Emmbrook in a dangerous position on 28-6 as Bradenham tightened their grip on the game.
James Gibbs then only managed five runs as Emmbrook’s poor batting streak continued to cause them problems at 43-7.
Richard Cole joined Williams at the middle for Emmbrook and provided stability as the pair built the runs for Emmbrook as they began to make a comeback.
Bradenham eventually bowled out Williams after he had provided a very valuable 48 runs, hitting nine boundaries in the process.
With Emmbrook on 110-8, Cole hit the winning runs as the hosts completed a brilliant turnaround to recover the game with just two wickets and 1.4 overs to spare.
Emmbrook and Bearwood bowling: Cole 1-23, Gibbs 4-46, Smart 2-26, Balakrishnan 1-8, Cobb 2-3.
Emmbrook and Bearwood batting: Cobb 5, Mhatre 6, Khan 2, Williams 48, Narraway 5, Sadiq 0, Smart 0, Gibbs 5, Cole 26no, Balakrishnan 0no, Bhraradwaj dnb.
