WELCOMING Dumbleton from the Western League for their first visit to North End Lane, Barnards Green lost the toss and had to field first on a hot sunny afternoon in this 40 over contest.

BARNARDS GREEN SUNDAY 1ST XI v DUMBLETON SUNDAY 1ST X

Debutante Bradley Adams impressed in his opening spell bowling Dumbleton's Springbok Stanton in his first over. Plesse and Lyes added 58 for the second wicket before the later attempted an ambitious pull off Dick Brown who also removed the dangerous Plesse for 47 off one of his famed full tosses!

The remaining batsmen all struggled against the slow bowling of Brown, Paul Drinkwater, Tim Clare and Martin Heaton an they tried to force the pace on a slow dusty wicket. The arrival of Churchman, however, altered things as his excellent 38 (four 6's and four 4's) saw 60 runs added off the last six overs to give Dumbleton a respectable 201 for 8 off their 40 overs.

This represented a challenging target for the Green but the home batsmen mixed watchfulness with selective aggression in keeping the scoreboard ticking over. Kevin Golder and Dan McKay progressed to 46 without alarm in the tenth over when the former was unfortunately stumped off a ricochet. McKay was joined by Kevin Ratcliffe who, following early uncertainty, picked up the pace with some clean leg side hits.

These two took the score to 148 when McKay mistimed a pull off Stanton for an excellent 63 off 69 balls. Kevin Ratcliffe completed a fine half century before being stumped for 77 off 87 balls leaving Jason Young to crack a quick fire 30 to see the Green to 204 for 3 off 36 overs and an excellent win by seven wickets.

Our thanks to mach sponsor Connell Racing.