A VERY depleted Newland side travelled to Corinthians and produced a superb rearguard action to secure a losing WCL Division Five draw, thanks in no small part to stalwart Dave Rouse who frustrated Corinthians all day.

WORCESTER CORINTHIANS v NEWLAND

Corinthians batted first and Newland had to field with only seven men for the first eighteen overs as men were lost in transit. With so many gaps the Corinthian openers had little trouble scoring runs until Freeman produced a brilliant diving catch to dismiss Turner for 29. The score had raced to 124 before the next wicket fell as Hill smashed his way to a rapid 71.

The switching of ends did the trick for veteran Dave Rouse, his second spell put the skids under Corinthians and he claimed a superb six wicket haul for 57 runs.

When Genever (2-5) was finally allowed to bowl the tail crumbled and Newland faced 233 for victory, given the state of the wicket this was probably 100 runs too many.

The pace of Sarjit Ali destroyed the Newland innings, with the surface exploding with every ball he bowled only White (24) reached double figures. Ali took 5-21 and Kadoos 2-33 leaving Newland reeling at 63-7 after 17 overs.

What happened next was a superb display of defensive batting by Dave Rouse and Chris Fredericks. The pair saw off the openers and then played the change bowlers with a resolute confidence.

With the fielding side confident of the victory it looked only a matter of time but as the overs ticked by the mood changed.

Rouse used all of his vast experience to frustrate, when the field got close he soon scattered them with some mighty blows whilst Fredericks played his part with his dead bat approach.

Rouse and Fredericks had almost seen their side home when a devastated Fredericks fell nine balls from the end, was his 28 over resistance going to be to no avail?

The answer was a resounding no, youngster Mike Genever saw off the three balls before Dave Rouse completed the vigil with his 31 over 38no seeing Newland deprive Corinthians of the victory and showing again a resolute Newland team spirit.