BARNARDS Green made a good start in the Worcester-shire County League division two following their promotion last season.

COOKLEY v BARNARDS GREEN

Green travelled to Cookley for their opening fixture on Saturday and enjoyed a convincing 147-run victory.

Captain Chris Smedley lost the toss and the Green were asked to bat first on an interesting looking track. Steady progress was made throughout the innings in difficult circumstances, with most batsmen contributing to a useful score of 210-8. Dan Flynn was top scorer with 87.

Cookley were never allowed to settle in their reply, finally being bowled out in just 22.4 overs for 53, with all three bowlers used returning good figures. Chris Harrison took 2-22, Jez Clarke 2-4 and the reliable Tim Williams collected the man-of-the-match award with figures of 5-14 off 11 overs.

The Green will be expecting a far stiffer test tomorrow (Saturday) when they entertain old rivals Belbroughton at North End Lane.

BARNARDS GREEN II v COOKLEY II

FOLLOWING overnight rain, the toss of the coin was always going to be important in this WCL division two second XIs fixture at North End Lane.

Luckily, it was the home captain who won the toss and asked Cookley to bat first on a green, damp wicket.

With humid conditions creating excessive swing, the Cookley batsmen struggled to score off the impressive line bowled by Matt Brookes. He bowled his 11 overs for only 11 runs and removed three of the Cookley top order.

The introduction of Ian Scullion, after a season out with injury, proved to be decisive. He bowled an exceptional line and length, his nine overs consisting of seven maidens for only five runs, four of those being an edge through the slips. His two wickets helped the Green to make further inroads into a now fragile looking Cookley batting line-up.

Rich brown took 2-7 as the Cookley innings finished on 102 in the 50th over.

After the early loss of Judd Doughty to a leading edge, Jon Lewis playing a mature holding role and Mark Hooper, who stroked the ball to all parts, had little trouble in overtaking Cookleys low score. Lewis unfortunately played on when in sight of victory for 17, leaving Mark Hooper 73no, a very impressive innings in not the easiest of conditions.

The Green collected 20 points.