HEAVY rain washed out Exhall and Wixford's hopes of a place in the last 16 of this season's npower Village Cup just when the Cotswold Hills Leaguers were holding the initiative last Sunday, writes Mervyn Collins.

It was a similar tale for Dumbleton who had restricted Somerset hosts Timsbury to 163-9 off 40 overs when the match was called off. Both sides face home replays on Sunday.

Exhall's opponents Chaddesley Corbett had chipped just 27 runs in nine overs off their target of 215 after the home side had run into something of a storm of their own in the shape of opening batsmen Matt Gwynn.

The prolific opener cracked a magnificent 110 off 188 balls faced before unselfishly being run out chasing the strike in the final over.

Better support

Gwynn helped skipper Simon Hollands, who had been asked to bat, add 63 for the first wicket and then received even better support from John Simpson who fell to a catch in the deep having made 36.

The third wicket pair came together after Aussie stumper Graham Wickes had fallen, not surprisingly, with the score on 87 and Gwynn and Simpson proceeded to take the home attack apart.

The opener found the boundary ten times, while his partner thumped the only maximum of the innings high over mid-wicket.

Gwynn's repertoire of strokes was simply stupendous against a far from innocuous attack that sent down very few poor deliveries.

When Simpson departed with the scoreboard reading a healthy 186-3 in the 38th over the ball after Gwynn had completed his century, Tom Heneghan smashed a swift 16 before Gwynn's exit looking for a second off the first ball of the 40th over.

A limping Leon Gates struck an early blow with the ball when prolific opener Jon Riches played on in the fourth over after the restart.

However, the Worcestershire County League side's strong batting line-up suffered no further blows before thunder, lightning and heavy rain sent the players scurrying for cover and a second shower an hour later forced an early finish.

"We obviously wanted to get back out there but it's certainly not fit and we'll have to do it all again next week, " a disappointed Hollands lamented.

"It's a shame for Matt after his terrific knock but let's hope he can do the trick for us again in the return.

"We didn't field very well but I always felt that we were capable of overhauling their score," home skipper Matt Boden admitted.

"Our strength is in our batting and the match was in the balance when the rain came."

Riches is likely to be an absentee for Chaddesley Corbett this weekend, while the Cotswold Hills League outfit are expected to have holidaying trio Scott Carmichael, Martin Park and Steve Keen available for selection after missing last Sunday.

Chaddesley had been similarly affected by the weather, like the majority of sides, 24 hours earlier when first and second team Worce-stershire County League games with table topping Pershore were both abandoned without a ball being bowled.

Pershore, meanwhile, were denied action on Sunday when Swindon conceded the scheduled Sunday Clubs League clash due to npower Village commitments.