24 May 2008 - Match Reports.
Belbroughton vs BGCC 2nd XI	BGCC 4th XI vs Himbleton
Barnards Green travelled to the picturesque rural ground of Belbroughton on a fine blustery sunny day and as normal The Green lost the toss and were asked to bat first. Mark Hooper and James Scullion added 10 before Hooper was well caught in the covers by Boardman. Lewis Hooper hit a breezy 10. Steve Metcalfe failed to trouble the scorer when playing down the wrong line to become Higgins first victim. Ian Scullion struggling with a back injury made 11, James scullion made a patient 20, Matt Brookes skied a catch and was out for 8. This brought Phil Spencer to the wicket with the green 102 for 7 off 39 overs. Lewis Loader 8 helped his captain put on 20 then a ninth wicket partnership between Spencer and twelve year old Ryan Scullion added 22  with the green finishing 143 for 8 off their 50 allotted overs. Higgins bowled 14 overs taking 4 for 27 and John Raybould also bowled 14 overs taking 1 for 27. The Greens total was well short of the captains expectations. Belbroughtons reply got off to a disastrous start first Spencer had Boardman caught on his first ball then in the next over a mix up led to the run out of Ross leaving the home side on 3 for 2, the game was then taken away from the green with a fine 121 run partnership between the hard hitting Tom Raybold and the experienced Mackenzie, although Raybold offered 4 chances they were all hard hit and very difficult , perhaps with a bit of luck one of those chances had stuck then the remaining youngsters in Belbroughton's team might of buckled under pressure, in the end the home side reached their total with 8 overs to spare and 6 wickets in hand, Mackenzie was 52no and Raybold made a match winning 67. With another 50 runs the greens bowlers might just have snatched a victory but had to settle for just 2 bonus points. BGCC 1st XI vs Eastnor On Saturday Barnards Green 1st XI started a weekend of 2 games in 3 days with a full Bank Holiday Monday programme to be played.  The Green welcomed local rivals Eastnor to North End Lane on Saturday. Chris Smedley lost the toss for a fifth successive occasion and again the Green were asked to bat first.  The first ten overs proved extremely hard going for the Green’s top order batsman.  Shahid and Adeel found some exaggerated swing and seam movement as well as some steep bounce.  However having lost Kev Golder early Rich Williams and Liam Paddock grafted very hard to guide the Green to 40 for 1.  Williams and Smedley then fell in quick succession to leave the game balanced.  Tim Clarke confidently strode to the wicket having overcome some pre match sickness.  He again found form quickly and struck the ball hard to the boundary on a number of occasions.  This seemed to inspire Paddock who upped a gear and started to time the ball beautifully.  Clarke then departed caught on the boundary but Phil Harris continued the trend with some clean hitting of his own.  He and Paddock ran brilliantly well raised the momentum of the innings.  Shahid then returned and accounted for Fowles and Jez Clarke in quick succession.  Tim Williams joined Paddock and raised the score to 233 before Paddock (97) needed to hit the final ball for 3 to complete a century.  He hoisted the ball towards the boundary only to find the safe hands of Atiq on the point boundary.  It was a fine innings that enabled to Green to build a competitive total. In reply Phil Harris and Matt Shimell beat the outside edge on countless occasions.  Shimell finally struck to remove the tentative Emery clean bowled.  With Phil Harris feeling a slight hamstring twinge Shimell swapped ends and Tim Williams was brought into the attack.  In an 8 over spell he accounted for Adeel, F Shahid and vitally Atiq without scoring.  Shimell returned again for a third short spell and picked up another wicket leg before.  With the game poised at 94 for 5 the Green returned the momentum to Eastnor with Shahid and skipper Bobby Jabran compiling a partnership of 65.  However Smedley then had Shahid well caught behind by Rich Wiiliams.  With 16 overs remaining Eastnor needed just 68 with 4 wickets left.  Smedley turned to Tim Williams again and the pair managed to increase the required rate to 4.5 runs per over.  However Eastnor still looked well in control.  Paddock then took a simple chance off Smedley’s bowling to leave Eastnor 7 down but needing just 32 off 8 overs with Jabran well set.  Williams and Smedley managed to keep things tight though and restrict boundaries.  With 2 overs left Smedley bowled tightly to a well thought out field and left Williams the final over with Eastnor needed 8 to tie and 9 to win.  4 singles and a dot left Jabran needing a 6 to win or 4 for a tie.  Williams held his nerve as Jabran’s swipe went straight up and Mitch Fowles held on to a great catch at backward point.  In a superb game of cricket enjoyed by a good crowd the Green came out with 15 hard earned points and Eastnor with 9 points.	With regular skipper being sidelined with a broken thumb, stand in skipper Dick Brown lead the fourths in the Crusader Worcestershire Cricket League Division 4 South 2^nd XI encounter at Newland against fellow mid-tablers Himbleton. Following 2 very poor performances in the previous two weeks, the Green were eager to get their season back on track  Brown continued the tradition of the fourth team captain by losing the toss on a damp and green looking wicket and was asked to bat first. John Wheeler and Robbie Lewis opened up and soon lost Wheeler for 10, this brought Cyril Dean to the crease who batted superbly for his 77, defending the good balls and punishing anything loose.   Following the loss of Lewis, Horne and Bradley cheaply, Skipper Brown strolled to the crease and along with Dean, rebuilt the innings and put the green in a strong position. When Brown went for 65, Brewer, Price, Deighan and Alley were all given freedom to increase the scoring rate – this they did and the Green ended on 250 for 9 from their 45 overs  Following another excellent tea by Mechelle and her team of helpers, the Green openers were given one instruction – “bowl at the stumps”. This they did, with Deighan and Alley, and followed up by Cullity reduced Himbleton to 38 for 4 from 15 overs. Father and son combination of Tom and Will Byrne then consolidated the innings and took the score to 65 before Cullity induced a false shot from Tom and he was removed for a well made 25.   Lewis and Dave Price were then introduced into the attack and none of the remaining batters could cope with their line and length and the innings was soon finished with Himbleton all out for 88 in 37 overs. Pick of the bowlers were John Deighan (4 for 26 from 12 overs) and Robbie Lewis (3 for 2 from 5.1 overs)