Barnards Green cricket Club Match Reports.

26^th July 2003 Barnards Green 3^rd XI vs Stourbridge	26^th July 2003 Brintons vs Barnards Green Singles
With the British weather resuming normal service, Barnards Green thirds entertained Stourbridge at Newland on saturday but were thwarted by the rain.  On a damp but otherwise excellent wicket, Green skipper Robin Longmore put Stourbridge in to take first knock and it was Longmore himself who made early inroads dismissing openers Patel caught by keeper Roy Mayo and Annis through a return catch.  Sam Spencer bowled a good line and length and was rewarded when he bowled a peach to dismiss Jones for 12.  Jamie Longmore then showed a welcome return to form as he found a good line and length, but unfortunately, he had to go to hospital when he broke his finger attempting a difficult return catch.  Emily Price was then introduced to the attack to bowl in tandem with her Dad Dave who picked up three wickets aided by some good catching in the outfield.  Emily proceeded to bowl an excellent line and length to finish with figures of 10 overs two for 15.  Thirteen year old Adam Price then took the final wicket to dismiss Krishna well caught by Nick Rogers who had fielded brilliantly all afternoon and Stourbridge finished on 166. Tea saw the persistant drizzle turn to heavier rain and whilst the innings was started and Cyril Dean and Lee Dyment got the Green off to a flying start scoring 18 off the first three overs, the dismissal of Lee whose feet slipped from under him as he atempted a cut, signalled the end of the game and one more victory to the lousy British weather.  The Green picked up 9 points and having already been denied 24 points by the inflexibility of the leagues managemnet committee, it will now be difficult for them to chalenge for title honours.	Barnards Green singles crashed to their second ten wicket defeat of the season when bottom club Brintons made the most of the conditions to claim only their second win of the season. Singles skipper Freeman lost the toss and saw his side inserted on a damp wicket. He and Brookes faced a torrid opening spell as the ball reared off a length alarmingly. The openers took blows on every part of their anatomy as they fought doggedly to keep their side in with a chance. When the ball was over pitched they took the opportunities but these events were rare as Lee Waldron and Morris made sure that the front foot was rarely in evidence. Having battled for 12 overs and putting on 41 Brookes perished when unable to get on top of a square cut for 18. Freeman was joined by Wheeler who immediately went onto the back foot and smashed everything to the boundary, for the first time batting looked easy but soon Freeman (11) became a victim when the ball ‘popped’ and ballooned back to the bowler. At 77 for 2 the Green were easing their way back into the match but Wheeler’s belligerent 31 was ended when Ian Waldron took a superb catch running backwards. The change bowlers I Waldron (3 –24) and Morris (4 – 30) ripped the out the remaining batsmen with a mixture of unplayable deliveries and poor batting. Only Metcalfe with 16 offered any resistance but 115 looked a challenging total on this wicket. The tea break saw a heavy shower and this proved to be the Green’s undoing. Immediately the wicket became low and slow, the fearsome rearing off a length had disappeared and the Green struggled to hurry the batsmen into any false shots. It was testimony to the Green for plugging away gamely, they knew it wasn’t their day when the luckless Brookes clipped Jones’ leg stump only for the bails to remain intact. Lockwood serenely accumulated his runs against the tight bowling and fielding whilst Jones lobbed the ball into the gaps to secure his runs. Manfully the Green attempted a breakthrough as the bowlers toiled for no reward and the fact that it took Brintons forty overs to secure to win was a credit to the fine bowling and fielding display. Jones 32 not out and Lockwood 73 not out secured the ten wicket win whilst the Green had had a ‘pointless’ excursion to Kidderminster.
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