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Saturday saw Barnards
Green make the short trip across the Herefordshire border to meet local
rivals Colwall at their picturesque Stowe Lane ground. Visiting skipper
Chris Smedley lost the toss and the home side elected to make first use of a
slow but true wicket.
The Green’s opening attack for Williams and Downes made good use of the new
ball with Downes generating good pace and bounce off a recently remodeled
run up. At the other end Willams mixed swing and seam to good effect to have
the Colwall batters in early trouble.
After early strikes however Panniers and Wolfendale settled in to push the
score on for the home side with some rusty fielding allowing several let
off’s in the field. Both batsmen benefited from these lapses in the and it
took the introduction of veterans Smedley and Metcalfe to stem the flow of
runs with useful wickets; skipper Smedley accounting for the wicket of
danger man Wolfendale(63) thanks to sharp catch behind the wicket by Adam
Binks.
After Panniers departed the Colwall batting order fell away to the flight
and guile of Smedley and the pace and swing of Metcalfe who finished with
3-65 and 4-35 respectively.
Following the interval openers Golder and Williams took to the pitch and
were harsh on early loose offerings, Golder scoring 29 with all but one of
his runs coming in boundaries. Whilst the healthy run rate continued so did
the flow of wickets with several Green players playing loose strokes to be
caught in the slip cordon, where Wolfendale showed his class with two superb
grabs.
When Jez Clarke fell for a first ball duck the situation was dire as Tim
Williams strode to the crease with the score 80-7. Williams and Green keeper
Adam Binks pushed the score along with Binks in particular struggling to
time the ball on a slow pitch. The pair nonetheless put on a valuable 76
before Williams fell to a good catch at extra cover.
After his heroics with the ball it was left again to Steve Metcalfe to try
and replicate his performance this time wielding the willow and he showed
his early intent with a superlative cover driven boundary.
With the rate increasing both players began to risk big shots with Metcalfe
bludgeoning several boundaries including a Pietersenesque pull shot for six.
With 18 required off 7 balls Binks reached a patient half century however 14
off the final over was too big a task for the Green as they fell an
agonizing 2 runs short of the Colwall total.
The Green travel to Wormlow for their 1st league game of the season and will
be looking for a significant improvement with both the bat and their
standard of fielding if they are to challenge for promotion back to division
1.
Colwall 215-9(45 overs) Panniers 64, Wolfendale 63, Metcalfe 4-35, Smedley
3-65, Downes 2-35
Barnards Green 213-8(45) Binks 55no, Williams Jnr 39, Metcalfe 31no, Clarke
3-38, Reuters 3-31
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