Burnham Sports CC

A brilliant debut league century by Ali Allchin proved in vain as Burnham Sports suffered an agonising one-wicket defeat  off the final ball of their fixture with Great Baddow at Millfield.
Allchin hit a sparkling 113 as his depleted team accumulated 208 for nine in a T.Rippon Mid-Essex League first division match reduced to 44 overs each by rain. It was not quite enough, though, promotion chasing Baddow scrambling home after needing nine from the final over and then two from the final delivery, which, ironically, was bowled by  Allchin.
Sports, and Allchin in particular, deserved better – not least because they were missing a string of regular faces  and have finished second-best in a string of close games this term.
After winning the toss and opting to bat, Burnham’s effort revolved around Allchin after the dismissals of Jamie Hamilton, who hit a fluent 40, and Dominic Whittaker, who made a determined 32 after opening.
Coming in with his team 69 for three in the 17th over, Allchin hit 113 of the next 139 runs that his team subsequently managed before being stumped in the final over. The Bear, as he is known by colleagues because of his powerful frame, dominated every partnership that he was involved in, finding the boundary on 20 occasions.
For a long while, it looked like the 19-year-old’s excellent effort would be rewarded.
Andy Stephens, the Sports captain, who finished with figures of four for 31 from 11 overs,  wasted little time dismissing the visiting team’s top three batsmen. And when Karl Barnes dismissed Wilson for 47, with Baddow on 111 in the 31^st over,  the momentum was still with them.
A stunning running catch by Robin Whittaker, off Jamie Hamilton at wide mid-on, and second-spell wickets for Allchin (three for 45) gave Sports a further boost but Millgate (66) proved a thorn in their side until he was ninth man out in the penultimate over, with his team still nine runs short of victory.
After that, the match could have gone either way, with all three results still possible come the last ball. Allchin directed it at off stump, where Evans-Green met it with a firm push that squeezed between the legs of Dave Gamble, fielding at shortish point. Baddow’s final pair joyously scampered the two that secured them the spoils.
“I guess it was a pretty exciting game for the neutrals but that wasn’t much consolation,” Stephens said. “When you lose a game in such circumstances, it’s natural to analyse the little things – a misfield or a dropped catch here or there – but I couldn’t fault the effort of our lads.
“We were missing quite a few regulars but still took a team who could easily be playing in the Premier League next year right to the wire. Ali did not deserve to be on the losing side. It was a magnificent knock by him.”
Burnham’s penultimate league match of the season this Saturday is away to Little Waltham.