Town struggle with numbers

The Boars start their Birmingham and District Premier League Division One campaign at Harborne on May 7 but are still looking for players to bolster their squad.

Nick Davies' side, who finished fourth last year, had planned to strengthen their set-up during the winter but instead have seen more players leave than arrive.

Last season's Worcestershire-allocated players Jon Farrow and Kadeer Ali are no longer involved with the New Road county, while Simon Keate and Paul Duffy are not available to start the campaign.

The St Godwald's Park club have recruited batsman Kieran Dasogne from Water Orton and Worcestershire stars Stephen Peters and Nadeem Malik are allocated to them.

But with Peters currently opening the batting for the County and Nadeem on the way back from injury, appearances are likely to be few and far between.

Bromsgrove chairman Nick Husbands has therefore issued a plea to both batsmen and bowlers interested in joining the club.

And Husbands is particularly appealing to those from Worcestershire County League sides as the deadline between Birmingham League teams has passed.

"We are in a bit of a hole at the moment," Husbands said. "We had a strong finish and finished fourth last season and the master plan was to bring in a few more players.

"We are still looking to strengthen the squad. The first 11 is a reasonable side but once you start getting distractions through injury your side is weakened."

Anyone interested can call Husbands on 07980-870954.

Meanwhile, Bromsgrove's Chadsgrove School were competing in the Lord's Taverners National Table Cricket Competition today.

They were hoping for a place in the national finals at Lord's Cricket Ground on June 21 but first pupils needed to qualify from the Birmingham regional heat at Edgbaston.

They were among six schools with the others based around Birmingham, Coventry and Wolverhampton.

The sport is designed for young people who have physical or co-ordination impairments.