BROMSGROVE Cricket Club's First XI finally halted their run of successive defeats over the Bank Holiday weekend.

This wasn't before they suffered their fifth and most conclusive on Saturday at the hands of Himley, and their West Indian test match opener, Linden Roberts.

Batting first, Bromsgrove began well with acting captain Jamie Campbell notching up a half century. Along with Jason Vaughan-Davies (30) the pair took the score past 100, but a quick succession of wickets seemed to undo all the hard work.

John Duffy (31) and Mark Evenson (38) then crafted a partnership that on another day could have helped win the game, as they took the score to a respectable 213 off 55 overs.

Himley's reply was dominated by Roberts, who blasted the ball to all parts.

Nick Davies made early in-roads by snapping up two wickets but Middleton joined the West Indian and the run rate sizzled.

A couple of chances were missed but when Roberts was finally out for 92, giving Davies his third wicket, there were just 32 overs gone and Himley took the winning runs with nearly 13 overs to spare.

Monday saw the town up against another international, this time in the form of South African all-rounder Mike Rindel.

Paul Duffy, returning to skipper the side, won the toss and elected to bat on a dry wicket.

Rindel made his presence felt early when he got the ball to swing back wickedly, trapping Jamie Campbell in front. Vaughan-Davies was next to go when he attempted to hit the same bowler over the top and was well caught by Proud.

Rindel then opted to bowl spin and picked up the wicket of Keyte (15) and then when Connor was out, Bromsgrove again looked shaky at 38 for 4. Duffy and Kish Patel set about repairing the damage and played the spinners well, patiently taking singles and putting the bad ball away.

The pair took the score up to 118 but the wicket of Duffy sparked another collapse and town went to 121 for 7.

Plundered

Patel then opened up his shoulders and plundered the ball to all parts, showing great class and temperament. He was finally out for 69 with the score on 149 for 9.

Tail enders Nick Husbands and Adrian Field then made sure their team stayed in the game with some enterprising cricket, taking the score to 171 off 55 overs with Field hitting two boundaries in the final over.

Rindel's ability to score runs quickly at the top of the orders meant that Duffy opted to take the old ball and open with the off spin of Patel and the swing of Vaughan-Davies.

The tactic worked well as the visitors found runs hard to come by. Patel struck twice early, and extracting sharp turn from the pitch meant that Rindel could not play his natural game.

The game continued with the run rate often around one run per over and slowly the wickets began to fall.

The wicket of the South African, excellently caught and bowled by Patel, allowed Bromsgrove to take the new ball. Adrian Field struck straight away, and with six wickets down, Bromsgrove were in with a chance of victory.

But dogged determination from the Smethwick batsman, who showed no urgency to score runs at any time during the game, restricted the wicket- taking opportunities.

Patel struck with the penultimate ball of the game, leaving nine wickets down. But there was no fortune off the last ball as Bromsgrove accepted a well-earned draw and finally stopped the run of defeats. Patel capped a fantastic game by taking five wickets.

l Teams for Saturday June 2: First XI away to Sutton, meet 11am. P C Duffy, J Campbell, S Keyte, J Connor, J Vaughan Davies, N Davies, K Patel, A Field, M Evenson, N Ingram, J Duffy.

Second XI home to Shrewsbury, meet 12.45pm. M Bennison, P Husbands, N Husbands, D Keyte, D Keyte Jnr., J Court, I Walker, A Lawton, M Bilborough, L Mortlock, T Hope.

Third XI home to Walsall, meet 1.15pm. D Gower, N Priddey, M Cox, S Chinn, I Young, D Wells, L Harris, J Price, I Miller, I Ramsey.