Barnards Green cricket Club Match Reports.

14th June 2003 Barnards Green 1^stXI	14th June 2003 Knighton-on-Teme v Barnards Green
Vs Lye
Lye were the visitors to North End Lane in this division 3 first team clash. The weather was again superb and on a flat looking track Green skipper Rich Williams again elected to bat first. After the early loss of Jez Clarke the in form Flynn and skipper Rich Williams quickly moved the score on to 47 with boundaries to all parts of the ground. However both fell in quick succession and Drinkwater also fell quickly leaving the Green in trouble on 51 for 4 after 15 overs. This bought Smedley and Tm Clarke together. The pair began to rebuild the damage and Clarke in particular started to find the boundary at regular intervals. Both reached excellent 50’s with Clarke particularly punishing on wayward bowling and Smedley found the gaps superbly, dealing mainly in ones and twos. Having reached his 50 Clarke went on to accelerate towards a fine hundred. Smedley eventually fell for a very well made 66 having come in at an awkward time. Rob Richards then joined the tiring Clarke. In 3 and a half overs Richards scored 30 with a wide variety of shots, taking the Green well over the 250 mark. Clarke finished with 118 not out, with 12 fours and 4 sixes. This was a very fine innings which saw the Green to a very good score of 287 for 6. The Lye reply started in very positive fashion with Ishtiaq punishing anything off line or length. The introduction of Richards saw the first breakthroughs with 2 catches in quick succession going to Chris Smedley. Lynch joined Ishtiaq and the pair compiled an impressive partnership to get Lye into the game. However Flynn removed both in quick succession and Tim Williams returned to remove Clifford without scoring and Lye found themselves 192 for 5 needing a further 90 of 10 overs. The Green were unable to make further breakthroughs until the final over when Smedley had Whitehouse caught behind by Glendinning. Lye closed on 204 for 6. Another excellent team performance saw the Green gain 14 points and close the gap on the leaders. Next week the Green travel to Victoria for a crunch game, making only one change with Clive Churchill coming in for his first game.	Barnards Green Singles travelled to Knighton on Teme for this Worcestershire League Division 5 fixture. Skipper White deputising for the unavailable Freeman lost the toss and was asked to field. Due to unforeseen circumstances the Green only had 9 players for the first 15 overs. Despite this the opening batsmen found scoring difficult with Churchill and Leech bowling with pace and accuracy right from the outset. Churchill removed Toms off stump in the 9^th over to maintain the pressure on the batmen. A change of bowling saw the introduction of Metcalfe, who spurred on by the noises from the crowd soon found an excellent swinging length. 3 maidens from his first four overs ensured no end to the batsmen’s sticky patch. Spiers now bowling from the ‘tree end’, fully backed him up and removed James with a delivery that cut back. Due to aching arms (umpires), Metcalfe was rested after his lengthy fifth over, but it did see the end of Evans who was caught behind by White off the surprise straight ball. Skipper White now hampered by 3 of his players reporting restrictive back problems turned to the spin of Mike Genever, who bowled with good control. Wickets falling at regular intervals ensured that the run rate never got out of hand, despite the efforts of Powell and Whistanle who both hit big sixes before holing out to well taken catches. Knighton’s last 5 wickets fell for just 33 runs setting a victory target of 187. The first over of the response saw Leech square cut Hipkiss for 4, but the bowler got his revenge in the 5^th over trapping him LBW much to Leech’s surprise. New batsman Beavan joined Chris Genever at the crease and the score steadily mounted. Genever driving with bat splitting power and Beavan square cutting beautifully, but both watchful of some fine bowling by Powell who cut the ball a long way into both batsmen. Beavan (25) fell in the 17^th over with the score on 56. New batsman White was unusually out of sorts and struggled to find the middle of the bat, but settled for a supporting role to Genever who continued to find the boundary with regularity, before losing his middle stump for a classy 67. White (15) and Wheeler (1) soon followed to leave the visitors on 132-5. But then Tolley (21 NO) and Metcalfe (35 NO) took control and put the skids under the Knighton revival with some hard hitting that saw Barnards Green Singles to victory with 5 overs to spare.
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