Bromsgrove 207 all out Harborne 210-5

Bromsgrove lost by five wickets

RUNS were hard to come by for Bromsgrove as the batsmen failed to take advantage of a good wicket in Saturday's defeat at the hands of Harborne in the Birmingham and District League Division One.

The Boars returned to action after a rain disrupted season but wilted under a baking sun in the leafy Birmingham suburb of Harborne.

Harborne's ground is one of the best in the league and its short boundary is an excellent place for run hungry batsmen to notch up the runs.

However, despite an explosive performance by captain Nick Davies (32), the Boars were bowled out relatively cheaply for 207.

Harborne then survived a good spell of bowling early on, as Simon Gear's 89 condemned Bromsgrove to defeat. The loss left the Boars in the bottom half of the table.

Bromsgrove went into the game with an almost full strength side, with only influential bowler Nick Husbands absent.

Captain Nick Davies won the toss and opted to take the initiative and bat first. Simon Allison had looked in good form but he was bowled for 25 runs early on.

Despite the set back Davies led by example with a series of powerful blows that saw him swiftly accelerate to 32 before he was caught on the boundary trying to slog Steven Crutchley for six.

At this stage Bromsgrove were 65-2 and looked dangerous.

Omar Ali and Jordan Rose kept the run rate going with a 33 run partnership, before Jonathan Cockroft caught and bowled Ali. Mark Evenson was also a victim to Cockcroft's accurate bowling, as Bromsgrove suffered a collapse to 98-4 in the 22nd over.

The Boars' innings was on a knife edge but Rose and Julian Court steadied the ship with a 25 run partnership.

However, once Rose was bowled on 30 Bromsgrove's resistance crumbled, as John Duffy, Richard Hamilton, Court and Bagley were cheaply dismissed.

Cockcroft and Stephen Moreton were the visitors' chief tormentors, as their disciplined bowling yielded four wickets each.

Bromsgrove needed to take early wickets to give themselves a chance of victory. Tight bowling by Zafran Ali pegged back openers Michael Powell and Gear early on, but the duo began to increase the run rate by the tenth over. Mark Bagley made the breakthrough in the 13th over when Powell was caught by Mark Evenson.

Bromsgrove's captain was a at full stretch to catch Moreton off Bagley's delivery as Harborne fell to 60-3. However, Andy Du Preez (56) and Gear led the host's fight back as they rallied and made 211-5 by the 47th over.