HANLEY Castle and Upton travelled to Rushwick to start their campaign in the reorganised division three south of the Crusader Worcestershire County League.

RUSHWICK v HANLEY CASTLE & UPTON

On a slow and wet wicket, Richard Watkins won the toss for the visitors and had no hesitation in electing to bowl first.

It was clear from early on that run-scoring and shot-making would be difficult and with a damp outfield, any score approaching 200 would be a difficult total to chase.

All of the Rushwick batsmen struggled to come to terms with the conditions but with the Hanley bowlers offering plenty of loose deliveries and a succession of wides and no balls in the first 10 overs, the score moved quickly to 51. Pressure mounted upon Hanley and Upton as Tim Conway broke down after only two overs forcing skipper Watkins to ring the changes with his bowlers.

The initial breakthrough came when young fast bowler Chris Duckworth (3-35) had Collins (8) brilliantly caught in the covers by the Peter Pan of the Hanley team, Simon Rawlings. Not to be outdone, Richard Thompson then pounced cat-like to catch the threatening DeBoer (18). Thompson was to follow this spectacular effort with three more catches, one steepling effort on the deep mid-wicket boundary to dismiss the dangerous Gary Watkins (24).

Sam Foley (1-30) looked particularly useful with the ball as did Barton Mathews (3-33) but the pick of the visiting bowlers was Simon Rainsford, whose three wickets for 20 runs in 11 overs was an excellent example of thoughtful, controlled use of a damp ball on a tricky wicket.

Only Lane (40) made any significant contribution to the home side's total which rather petered out at 170 after only 41.2 overs, leaving Hanley 58 overs to get to their target.

The Rushwick bowlers set about their task well, bowling a succession of maiden overs as Watkins and Thompson struggled to find their form. Turner (4-49) and Douglas (3-52) pinned the Hanley openers down so that only 39 runs had come from the first 20 overs. Crucially, neither of the batsman gave their wicket away and with 38 overs left and only 131 to win, Hanley and Upton were still in the driving seat.

The reliable Grant Mathews (70no) came in at first wicket down and having survived a sharp chance to mid-off, set himself for a long occupation of the crease. A belligerent innings from Rawlings (17) and some big hits from Mathews kept the scoreboard ticking but the return of Turner and Douglas increased the pressure on the inexperienced middle order of Hanley and Upton as wickets began to tumble.

With Mathews proving a thorn in Rushwick's side and a useful knock from Tom Pugh (7), the target came slowly into sight. As the 55th over was being bowled Hanley and Upton eventually crossed the finishing line and claimed the opening 20 points of their campaign.