ON a rather gloomy looking Sunday afternoon Barnards Green skipper Marek Wajzer rallied his troops for the penultimate time this season.

BARNARDS GREEN SUNDAY II v

ST JOHN'S LADYWOOD

With this being the only club fixture of the day, Wajzer proudly skippered his first team to another excellent win.

Wajzer inserted his side on a wet uncovered end-of-the-season looking track which actually played well early on and gave little trouble to first teamer Clarke and veteran Shirliker. Both batted sensibly and saw off the new ball until Shirliker was unlucky to play on while fending off a short delivery for 23.

This bought another first team player to the crease, John Lewis. He soon took a liking to what he saw and stripped the visiting side of all their enthusiasm, smashing boundaries to all parts and implanting two successive long hops in neighbouring gardens.

Lewis finally fell for 29 to a surprising catch in the deep. Clarke continued to ride his luck at the other end and despite all his best efforts could not find dismissal. He passed his first 50 of the season with a mixture of well and non-timed shots.

Support came throughout by young Matt Higgs, who looked more than at home in his first team debut. When Clarke finally fell Plumb lbw for 56, Duncan Bell strode out in his new roll in the middle order.

The young first team bowler flayed the bowling to all parts, pleasing the crowd as he swept and drove his way to his first ever senior 50, supported throughout from Anchuman and big-hitter Wajzer, who played the return of the opening bowlers particularly well. The Green finished on 221 for five.

In reply, the Green bowled well, although St John's Ladywood showed great resistance early on and saw off the ever-impressive Anchuman (0-43) and it was left to Sam Spencer to remove both openers in his final two overs.

Skipper Wajzer mixed his bowlers round superbly with the combination of Bartlett and Bryant a fearsome attack to most, bowling particularly well in tandem.

Whilst Bartlett got in to his rhythm and worked up some genuine pace, Bryant nagged away forever probing in 'that corridor' and, towards the end of his spell (3-28), acquired some late reverse swing which he used to great effect.

St John's Ladywood from this point always looked to have an up-hill battle on their hands, and with overs to still come from the likes of Clarke (2-4) and Longmore (1-11), they finally folded on 164 taking the Green home by 47 runs.

A special mention must go to 15-year-old Matt Higgs who took five out field catches during this game, something many of the veterans in the team have never seen before, even in the first team.