NEWLAND had to make the long trip to Birmingham to take on table-toppers Cape Hill Victoria on Saturday, a journey without seven regulars and with one no show, so Newland stalwart Richard Hinds had to swap his pencil for his whites.

CAPE HILL VICTORIA V

NEWLAND

With two players still in transit, stand in skipper Freeman elected to bat on what looked to be a very bowler friendly wicket and his fears were soon founded as Birch and Brewer found runs hard to come by.

With Constable and Naveed having both batsmen in trouble Birch elected to hit anything pitched up, this tactic worked as he smashed three fours but was undone by Naveed and Brewer soon followed.

Genever looked more than comfortable in compiling 16 runs but was undone by a sharply lifting delivery. Beavan was now hooking and pulling change bowler Summers as Newland sought to build some sort of total, whilst Freeman was content to play a dogged captain's innings. The pair had added 31 priceless runs until Beavan was trapped in front by Shafoor for an excellent 29. Two more quick wickets had Newland reeling at 96-6 with 13 overs remaining.

Luckily for Newland Alan Rock had been persuaded to make the long trek despite not finishing work until 2.30pm, arriving at the ground at 3.30pm he was quickly padded up and promptly set about bowling. Surviving two simple dropped catches he proceeded to smash the ball around the park and along with some aggressive running the pair added 60 runs. Freeman played the captain's role to perfection finishing unbeaten on 33 whilst ensuring that Rock faced the last over, where he smashed 14 runs to finish on 35no and saw Newland post a respectable 156-6.

The Cape Hill Victoria response came up against an epic bowling performance from Clive Churchill, he made no attempt to curry favour with any of the batsmen and gave all a torrid time as the ball continued to misbehave.

Soon the chink of the metallic bails were prompting howls of delight from the Newland fielders. Rock too liked the sound and Cape Hill Victoria were 44-5.

Meek (11) adopted a more novel approach to batting on the wicket, dancing down the track and padding up, it was somewhat surprising when he called for a new bat. The return of Rock, 2-24 off 10 overs, accounted for him with a super caught and bowled. It was Churchill who remained the thorn in Cape Hill Victoria's side, bowling unchanged throughout the innings, he soon had more wicket's to his name when Sully took two stunners behind the stumps.

Summers and Constable (10) now staged a recovery for their side taking the score past 100 but Paul Young grabbed the priceless wicket of Constable. Summers now opened his shoulders smashing three boundaries but he was unable to farm the bowling and Churchill was homing in once more, batsmen ten and eleven had no answer to his pace.

The bails dropped like the jackpot on a fruit machine as Churchill claimed 7-62 off 19.3 overs and saw his side take the maximum points as Cape Hill fell 31 runs short.

Skipper Freeman, ecstatic after such an excellent victory, thanked every team member for making that extra effort in pursuit of league honours, none more so than Alan Rock, but it was Churchill taking the plaudits after such a mean and devastating spell of bowling.