BARNARDS Green thirds entertained top-of-the-table Kidderminster Victoria, who invited the Green to bat.

The top three of Rob Lewis, Nick Rogers and Lee Brookes all perished to poor deliveries with even poorer shots, the latter two failing to trouble the scorers.

This left Dick Brown (34) and Chris Hill (59) to rebuild the innings, but having taken the score to 65 Brown fell to another soft dismissal giving a return catch to Amos.

It was ironic that Kidderminster's bowlers were bowling well, but taking wickets with bad balls. Hill too was dropped off a long-hop and was joined by Mark Perkins. A useful partnership took the score on before Hill was well caught off Davis (4-39) with the score on 132 with just eight overs left.

The tail tried to force the pace with Perkins (26), Graeme Spiers (11) and Jamie Longmore (9no) leading the way, helping to take the score to 168 off their 45 overs.

A good start was needed by the Green in their bowling performance and when skipper Saddler became frustrated with the tight line of Spiers and Hill, he lobbed the ball to mid-on, only for the catch to go down.

This became a bit of a pattern as near misses and half chances went begging.

Both openers found Hill extremely difficult to play and it soon became apparent that lbw appeals were a waste of time.

The first wicket fell at 86 when Jamie Longmore moved swiftly to run out the impressive Bagley for 25.

Trickett was also run-out by a direct throw from Hill, but that was to be the last success for the Green as Kidderminster won with eight wickets and five overs to spare.

Many thanks to Pheonix Heating for the match day sponsorship.

Despite this loss, the Green will remain in division six for next season after Old Hill were also defeated.