BROMSGROVE First XI got off to a losing start in their new Birmingham League campaign when they visited Wellington last Saturday.

Wellington did well to create a reasonably good pitch with little help from the weather but, with so little practice for both sides, it was always going to be difficult.

Bromsgrove lost the toss and having been asked to bat first were 3-1 when play was held up for over three hours due to rain.

When the match finally resumed, the town side faced the difficulty of attaining a defendable score against tight bowling from the Wellington seamers and the left arm spin of Adam Byram.

An outstanding knock by newcomer Kish Patel (30 not out) proved to be the back bone of the innings, which closed on 82-9 from 30 overs, with no other Bromsgrove batsman making double figures.

Neale Ingram supported Patel well during the latter stages before being caught on the boundary from the final ball.

Nick Davies and Ingram made a promising start with the ball.

Ingram was typically tight in his early overs, making the Wellington batsmen work for every single run whilst Davies was more testing and often beating the bat with the reward of three early wickets.

Jamie Campbell and Mark Evenson contributed with run- outs but the Wellington team, led by skipper Gavin Byram (24) and brother Adam (14 not out), inched home in the final over.

l Bromsgrove's Second XI lost by three runs in their league opener against a developing Wellington second team.

The visitors, with one eye on the weather, elected to bat first on a wet third team wicket. The tactic appeared to backfire, as a disciplined home attack, supported by athletic fielding, put the visitors under early pressure at 25 for 4.

However, a determined fight back by Clark (31), and Robinson (22) boosted the visitors total to 107 all out. Walker, the pick of the bowlers, finished with 5 for 40. In the heavy conditions, this was always going to be a testing total for Bromsgrove.

A patient start by the openers was interrupted with the loss of Duffy (9), Court (0) immediately following his former first XI colleague back to the pavilion, leaving the home team on 13 for 2.

A stand of 32 between Keyte and captain Bennison looked to be steadying the ship. With the loss of the skipper, wickets continued to fall at regular intervals, only Keyte (44) having the patience and technique able to cope with the conditions.

His loss with Bromsgrove needing 23 appeared to signal the end of the road. Lee Mortlock (18) set about the visitors attack with a passion, raising hopes of an unlikely victory.

Having taken the town team to within four runs of victory, his luck ran out as Bromsgrove finally subsided to 104 all out.

l Droitwich Spa Firsts crashed to a ten-wicket defeat at Kington in their opening Worcestershire County League Division One match on Saturday.