THE weather intervened once more in this week's WCL match between the Green Seconds and Belbroughton, limiting it to 40 overs per side.

BELBROUGHTON II v BARNARDS GREEN II

G Ross made a bright start to the Belbroughton innings hitting a succession of boundaries behind square on the leg side as the bowlers struggled to find the line.

First change bowler Jamie Longmore drew him into a rash stroke to bowl him for 42 and then Phil Spencer used his experience to great effect, tempting T Oliver with a slower ball and then pushing the next one through much quicker to force a simple nick to keeper Rich Birch. P Ross accumulated runs steadily reaching 42 before smacking the ball to Jamie Longmore who took an excellent catch at long off.

In the scramble for quick runs in the last few overs the Green's fielding wilted under the pressure allowing Belbroughton to post a total of 188 in their 40 overs.

In reply the Green made an uncertain start as Matt Brookes flicked a simple catch to square leg and John Sherliker was run out after slipping on the wet wicket. Paul Yorke and Andy Wheeler each hit some confident boundaries but Raybould and Edwards used the conditions well to cause problems for both batsmen.

Three wickets then fell quickly as the unpredictable bounce induced false shots and Alex Lamb dropped his bat and watched bemused as the slip fielder threw down his wicket.

Phil Spencer (46) and Dick Brown (32) came together with the score on 56-5 and immediately showed that they still thought victory was within reach adding 80 runs in quick time.

Oliver took an excellent running catch to dismiss Spencer leaving Derek Goodman with the tail enders. Despite his efforts the Green ended up 27 runs short.