BELBROUGHTON were this week's visitors to North End Lane for the WCL match against Barnards Green Seconds.

BARNARDS GREEN II v

BELBROUGHTON II

Starting their innings in light drizzle, the visitors' Ross and Barrett were soon dismissed but Jessop played straight and confidently to establish a solid base.

He was joined by Gillis, who showed a liking for the cover boundary, racing to a half century and taking the score over the 100 mark. Jessop then went for a big shot over long on but lost his leg stump to the wily Robbie Lewis and Duncan Bell returned to the attack to bowl the bemused Littlestone for a duck.

Lee Hooper found more control in his second spell and bowled Gillis for 66 with a good straight ball delivered at a lively pace. Hawk continued the attack with some lofted shots before being well caught, low down, by Simon Clarke, to give Hooper his second wicket and Taylor was run out by the rapid reactions of Derek Goodman.

The last wicket pair of Raybould and Edwards added an extra 20 runs and the innings closed on 230-9, a total which included 44 extras!

The Green made a disastrous start when Hawk bowled Derek Goodman with the first ball of the innings and had John Sherliker caught behind in his second over.

Bowling with accuracy and variation Hawk also got the odd ball to turn sharply and troubled all of the batsmen. Simon Cooke and James Curtis managed to keep the score moving and the score reached 50 in the tenth over.

Hawk then struck again as Curtis (21) was unluckily bowled off his body and Tim Price failed to pick the ball which drifted to the off to be bowled for a duck. Cooke was now the Green's only hope of victory as he tried to break out of Hawk's stranglehold, hitting him for a four and a six in the same over but when he tried to repeat the shots he was bowled for a well made 69.

The experienced pair of Dick Brown and Robbie Lewis decided a draw was the only remaining option and they reached this target without any real problems, finishing on 180-5.

The difference between the two sides was Hawk who bowled 22 overs conceding only 36 runs and taking all five wickets in an excellent spell.