IT was a new Sunday fixture with a new captain Steve Whittaker who took firm charge of the team.

MALVERN SUNDAY XI v ROUND OF GRAS

Malvern elected to bat first but got off to a very bad start losing four wickets in the opening six overs and only having 3o runs on the board.

However, Steve Carter came in and with opener Dave Sharp, they made a fantastic partnership, taking full advantage of the short boundary on the one side of the very wet pitch. Even though Sharp got bowled later on, his son Max Sharp came in and developed a fine partnership with Carter making 40 great runs.

Carter was very unlucky, getting caught 16 runs short of his century. Malvern's tail wagged and they closed on a par score of 225.

In reply, the opposition made a great start, none of the bowlers making a breakthrough. However, Mike Cunneen stepped up to bowl his second spell and immediately made an impact bowling out both of the openers.

Francis then bowled out the new batsman for only eight runs. However, due to a mix of poor bowling and fielding, batsman Candy and Green steered the opposition home with one over to spare.