BARNARDS Green Seconds travelled to Belbroughton on a day of changeable weather, after asking the home side to bat the Green soon made inroads into the top order.

BELBROUGHTON II v BARNARDS GREEN II

Sam Spencer's opening eight overs were well directed and brought him the reward of two wickets for just 16 runs.

Matt Brookes continued to impress with his line and length and was unfortunate to only take one wicket in a spell which deserved better. Belbroughton were struggling at 45-3 after 20 overs as the players took shelter from a severe hail storm.

Play resumed with the evergreen Steve Metcalfe bowling a tight line, he only conceded 20 runs off eight overs and did not deserve to be wicketless. At the other end Liam Paddock bowled his six overs with control and movement and was rewarded with a wicket when he yorked Willets for a grafting 19.

Belroughton then took control of the innings with a mixture hard-hitting shots.

The Green's cause was not helped by a mixture of dropped catches and sloppy fielding towards the end of the innings. Belbroughton finished on 186-6 with Williamson (60) and T Raybould (46) being the main contributors.

In reply, the Green never recovered from losing the top four batsmen for 17 runs. First losing Rich Brown to a needless swipe across the line, then Judd Doughty and Mark Hooper to mistimed attacking shots then Phil Harris was unlucky when the balled trickled off bat and pad to dislodge the bails.

The rain forced the players to retreat to the pavillion again, after a delay and a further reduction of overs to 40. This made the task of the Green getting any result from the game almost impossible, Seve Metcalfe threatened briefly with a well struck six, Liam Paddock batted maturely and was unlucky to be run out with a deflection off the bowler when backing up for 21.

Robbie Tyler then produced a cameo innings hitting two fours and two sixes in his knock of 26. This brought together the last pair of Graeham Glendenning and Sam Spencer, they proceeded to play the final eight overs out for a draw, without any problems.

The Green gained only two points and should look to improve tomorrow (Saturday) at home against Kidderminster Victoria.