BARNARDS Green 2nd X1 achieved their fourth straight win in the second division of the WCL with a victory over rivals Feckenham.

BARNARDS GREEN II V FECKENHAM II

Skipper Dick Brown won the toss and, as is usual in the league, asked the visitors to bat.

Opening bowlers Lee Hooper and Simon Cooke took some time to settle to a line and length but when they did so, Lee Hooper in particular found some life and movement in the wicket, taking the first wicket by bowling Simpson for 12 in the 14th over.

Perry and Morgan then took the score on to 93 before Perry hit a firm shot straight into the hands of Sherliker off the bowling of Dick Brown. Morgan batted confidently, driving powerfully until he reached 61 when he cracked a long hop from Brown to Derek Goodman who juggled the ball twice before completing a superb catch.

At this point a large total still seemed likely but skipper Brown brought on Robbie Lewis to bowl his first spell in second team league cricket for many years. Despite conceding 10 runs in his first over, he induced a number of false strokes to dismiss Cockerell (23), Teskey (19), Morgan (7) and Haines (10) who were all caught trying to score quick runs. Lewis was very well supported by Jamie Longmore who bowled a steady spell of 14 overs, taking 2-42 as the innings closed on 205-9.

This total was certainly in reach but the Feckenham bowlers found a good line immediately and started to put pressure on the batsmen. Paul Yorke played some lovely cover drives but Goodman could not get going and was bowled by Hinton for one in the 10th over.

The Feckenham captain then brought on Haines who tried to bowl as fast as possible and Yorke took the bait, failing to control an offside shot to be well caught by Simpson. John Sherliker followed immediately, bowled first ball by Davidson, and the total looked distant with the score on 53-3.

Keith Middleton (26) mixed solid defence with aggression before being caught and bowled by Morgan. Brian Hancock kept the score moving at a sensible pace despite losing his partner, Robbie Lewis (8). The fall of this wicket brought skipper Dick Brown to the crease and together, the pair started to dominate and had put on 84 runs to be within six runs of victory when Brown was caught for 27 off Perry.

Fittingly, it was Hancock who struck the winning blow, a superb four off Haines at the end of an fine innings of 82 which included 13 boundaries.

Thanks to match sponsor, Martin Ziegler.