MALVERN captain Andy Croft lost the toss and was asked to bat first.

MALVERN v BARNARDS GREEN

On a slow wicket runs were very hard to come by. Only C Postans (25), R Evans (28), J Greenway (25) and A Dovey (24) got into double figures. Eventually Malvern were bowled out on the last ball of the 40th over for 142. Pick of the Green bowlers being R Tyler taking 3-10 off 5 overs.

After a splendid tea Malvern went out to bowl. With a very low total they had to bowl tight and had to keep themselves on their toes in the field.

The Green soon found themselves in trouble as the openers were unable to counter the uneven bounce and Malvern's bowlers used this to good effect.

Summer 2-23 and Bywater 4-22 did the early damage and when R Longmore got a shooter from Summer the Green's innings looked all but over.

However Justin McMillan (30) adapted well to the conditions and played an excellent innings with some lovely leg side shots and got good support from Jamie Longmore then Rob Tyler to take the score to 91 before McMillan got another shooter.

The experienced N Thompson and A Croft came on to mop up the tail both taking two wicket apiece. Barnards Green were all out for 91 off 33.1 overs.

The game was sponsored by Crusader Sports and Automated Packaging.