George Hutton drives the ball, with Sam Burkitt at the bowler's end Picture: Colin Scott

by COLIN SCOTT

MISTLEY were unable to halt title-chasing Wivenhoe in Saturday's Marshall Hatchick Two Counties Championship contest.

They lost by three wickets in the first division clash at New Road.

Mistley won the toss and chose to bat first.

Captain Graeme Butcher and Matthew Bibby made a reasonable start, reaching 25, before the latter was bowled for 11.

Butcher suffered the same fate for 25, when the score was 38. Ashley Uren and Sam Burkitt both fell soon after for four each and when Myles Churchill was also out cheaply the score was 59 for five.

Daniel Goff brought some stability, along with Harrison Rogers, and the pair added 43 before Rogers was out LBW for 15.

Tim Scott joined Goff and this partnership made good progress, adding a further 38, before Goff was run out going for a second run when the score was 140 and he had scored 60.

Scott was also out LBW having scored 17 and Bruce Leeke contributed a useful 14 runs before being bowled going for an attacking shot towards the end of the innings, after adding 16 with Jack Fifield (five).

When Charlie Hawthorn was caught, Mistley’s innings finished on 172 all out.

Wivenhoe also reached 25 before losing their first wicket when Hawthorn had Jordan Nicholls caught by Goff for three.

A few overs later, Hawthorn had Tom Durrell caught by Butcher for 13 with the score on 49.

The next over, Tim Scott bowled the remaining opener, Matt Durrell, for 20 and just a few balls later got the crucial wicket of Dirk Bruwer, caught at slip by Bibby for just seven with the total on 58 for four.

Unfortunately for the Swans, James Butcher and Ryan Savill started the fightback for Wivenhoe, adding 60, before Savill was caught by Goff off the bowling of Uren, who also dismissed Jakob Kelly for three soon after caught by wicketkeeper Churchill.

James Handscombe joined Butcher to add a further 45 before he was out lbw to Scott for 25 but Wivenhoe were then within seven runs of victory.

They reached the target for seven wickets in the 46th over with Butcher not out for 43.

Tim Scott finished with figures of three wickets for 34 runs from his ten overs, Hawthorn two for 26 from nine and Uren two wickets for 29 from ten.

Fifield bowled an economical nine overs, including three maidens, for 24 runs.

On Sunday, Mistley travelled to Clacton for a North Essex Cricket League division one match.

The hosts won the toss and chose to bat.

Clacton had reached 24 when Kieron Parkes was out for just two to a one-handed catch by Tim Scott, fielding at mid-on, off the bowling of Cameron Rose.

The second wicket fell at 29 when Scott bowled James Lee for seven and the third at 70 when Owen Clover had Bradley Pitts caught by wicketkeeper Tom Young.

Tom Sinclair and Matthew O’Brien then put on 102 for the fourth wicket before O’Brien was caught by Rose for 43.

A further 61 was added before Clover got the key wicket of Sinclair, also caught by Rose, having scored 134 when the total was 233 for five.

Scott picked up one more wicket, bowling Harlan Greig, and with David Fitzpatrick finishing on 33 not out Clacton had reached a strong total of 257 for six from their 40 overs.

Tim Scott finished with two for 34 from his nine overs, Clover two for 69 from eight and Rose and Robert Hawes took one wicket each.

Mistley’s reply started well, with Burkitt and George Hutton putting on 76 for the first wicket before Hutton was caught, having scored 40 from 44 balls.

Burkitt was also caught for 36 and the other main contributions were 19 from Giles Lennox, 30 not out from Adrian Stockton and 12 from Clover.

Mistley reached 180 for eight from their 40 overs so Clacton won by a comfortable margin.

Hutton’s innings enabled him to reach 1,000 runs for the season, which is a significant achievement.