LEDBURY v COLWALL III

LEDBURY made the short trip to Colwall on Saturday and ran out easy winners of this local Marches League division three derby.

In sweltering conditions, Ledbury won a vital toss and duly elected to bat. However, they struggled in the face of excellent opening spells from Goode and Bradshaw and found themselves 17-2 with both openers dismissed.

Colwall's back-up bowlers were unable to keep the pressure on and Pat Locke (29) and Rob Greening (59) began to repair the damage with a stand of 59 for the second wicket until Locke was stumped.

This brought Tom Locke to the crease and, having been dropped early in his innings, he put a poor run of form behind him and began to attack the home side's bowlers.

With Greening continuing his excellent form, the pair added 90 for the third wicket, until Locke was dismissed for 51. A quick-fire 22no from Dan Herbert meant that Ledbury amassed an impressive 192 off their 45 overs. Mention must be made that Greening's innings was more deserving than the 59 he scored. A slow outfield meant he was only able to hit three fours and, on a difficult day for running between the wickets, a number of excellent shots went unrewarded.

In reply, Colwall never really got going in their run chase and failed to get a partnership going. A number of batsman got a start but no-one went on to build any innings of substance, as tight bowling and fielding from Ledbury kept the shackles firmly in place.

Mark Herbert (2-21) and Steve Evans (0-14) were especially miserly in the middle overs, whilst Lee Clueit (3-24) again bowled well at the death.

For Colwall, Lawrence with a somewhat unorthodox but entertaining style, hit 24 and was top-scorer when he was clean-bowled by Dan Herbert (2-40).

Tomorrow (Saturday) Ledbury have a vital game at Talgarth seconds knowing that a win will leave them handily-placed going into the second half of the season.