Old Hill 216-9 Barnt Green 140 all out

Graham Williamson Trophy final

Barnt Green lost by 76 runs

BARNT Green's dominance of the Graham Williamson Trophy came to an end as Old Hill put them to the sword on Sunday.

Green's amazing 11 match winning sequence in the trophy, which saw them win it for the last two years, was stopped in its tracks by Old Hill.

Defeat ensured that Green, who top the Birmingham and District League Premier Division and are in the National Knockout Cup final, couldn't go for a treble this season.

Captain Richard Illingworth was philosophical about his side's defeat.

He said: "You can't carry on winning the competition every year, that's not possible.

"We want to win everything but we did well to get to the final."

Green went into Sunday's clash at Old Hill on a crest of a wave after booking their place in the National Knockout Final at Lord's a week before.

However, the team was missing several first team regulars, including Illingworth - who was on umpiring duty.

So Green gave young guns Phil Mann, James Samworth and Miles Illingworth a taste of what it was like to play in the final.

However, Green's bowlers found in-form batsmen Attiq-ur-Rehman (72) and Ravi Nagra (58) in mean mood as they made 216.

Spinners Mann (2-35) and Rees (3-22) were the pick of Green's bowlers.

The visitors never got their reply off the ground, despite battling displays by Matt Dallaway (36) and wicketkeeper Adam Smith (23).

However, the order never settled as seam bowler Richard Jones got the measure of Barnt Green's batsmen.

Jones took (5-25), while Riaz Sheikh took 2-13.

Illingworth said: "It was a good experience for some of the younger players who were in the squad.

"Old Hill played very well on the day so you have to give them some credit."

Green still top the Premier Division after all the weekend's matches were washed out by torrential rain on Saturday - including their game against Coventry and North Warwickshire.

Illingworth said: "We put the covers on about 12pm and there was no chance of us getting any play in. The weather was atrocious. What's important is that no one else played it didn't really affect our league position in anyway."

l The rain was so ferocious that almost all of games in the Worcester County League were called off.