BROCKLEY v CLACTON

Marshall Hatchick Two Counties Championship division three

(Brockley won by 45 runs)

MATT Fowler took five wickets but could not prevent Clacton from slipping to their first defeat of the season, at Brockley on Saturday.

Captain Scott Facey required medical attention minutes before they were due to begin fielding and was unable to take to the field.

Despite this setback, ten-man Clacton started brightly, with Bradley Turner removing Ben Jeffrey lbw in the first over.

Richard Jones and Stuart Fisher played some flowing drives as the opening bowlers looked to exploit some early movement.

Bradley Pitts eventually found the edge of Jones, but Fisher and David Meekings made steady progress against the seamers.

Billy Occleshaw was unlucky not to take a wicket, with edges falling to gaps in the field.

The introduction of spin proved the way forward, with Fowler trapping Meekings lbw before bowling Paul Webb for five.

Fisher and James Firth added 28 before Firth and then Simon Byford were caught, to give Fowler his fourth wicket.

After a mix-up with Isaac Reed, Fisher was run-out at the non-striker’s end, which sparked a collapse. Imran Sheikh cleaned up Reed and then J Walker-Smith spooned one to cover off Fowler to give him five wickets for the match.

Sheikh also bowled Ben Browning to bring Brockley’s innings to a close with the score on 183.

Sheikh dominated the visitors’ opening partnership, with Pitts bowled for nought with the score on 19. Ryan Chamberlain joined Sheikh in the middle but did not last long, adjudged lbw off left-arm seamer Dean Sykes for nine.

Disaster struck when Sykes got a fingertip on Turner’s straight drive, catching Sheikh short of his ground at the bowler’s end, leaving Clacton 38 for three.

Turner was soon back in the hutch, caught behind off Reed.

This brought Fowler and Kieron Parkes to the crease.

The former added 20 before becoming Sykes’ second victim, lbw.

Occleshaw followed him back to the pavilion, which brought James Lee to the crease.

Boundaries were hard to come by, but good running between the wickets added 42 before Lee became the first of three Meekings wickets.

Next man in Facey hit a couple of boundaries before being judged lbw and when Parkes was stumped off Walker-Smith, the Clacton chase was all but over.

Jack Eastman was the last man out, meaning the visitors took seven points from the match.

Fortunately for the Seasiders, promotion-chasing Ipswich and East Suffolk also slipped up against next week’s opponents Bury St Edmunds.

Clacton are therefore joint top of the table.