BARNARDS Green made the trip to Shropshire on Saturday for a division five league encounter.

CLEOBURY v BARNARDS GREEN SINGLES

Skipper Kevin Ratcliffe lost the toss for the fourth game running and the Green were asked to bat on a track which proved to be uneven in bounce early on.

Openers Wheeler and Ratcliffe put on 20 in the first three overs before Wheeler was out, bringing Curtis to the wicket. He started confidently and, with Ratcliffe, took the score to 66 before Ratcliffe was adjudged lbw.

Curtis went on to score 65, including two well-timed straight sixes, well supported by Steve Beavan. At 147 with ten overs left and five wickets, the necessary acceleration was applied by Andy Sanders with a hard hit 49, including five sixes, and Rich Brown, with an equally aggressive 50no, enabling the Green to close on 245 from 45 overs.

In reply, Cleobury started slowly against the extra pace of Churchill and the accurate Spiers. Churchill gained his reward for some aggressive bowling with three wickets. Simon Clarke's introduction saw him bowl his best spell of the season as the batsmen failed to cope with the accuracy and variation in pace and he claimed four wickets.

Rich Brown took three tail-end wickets to cap a fine performance.

A splendid team effort saw the Green Singles triumph by 104 tuns.