Cricket
Green off the mark in fine style

CHAMPIONS Barnt Green celebrated their first Birmingham League Premier Division victory of the season with an impressive six wicket success over leaders Wolverhampton on Saturday.

Green, missing injured skipper Dougie Brown, were led by Adam Smith eho inserted the table-toppers on winning the toss.

Worcestershire’s Moeen Ali (43) got the visitors off to a good start but Aneesh Kapil (62) was the only other top order batsman to seriously trouble the scorers as the innings stumbled to 134 for 7.

It required a last wicket stand of 41 between Alex Grant (20) and Chris Russell (19) to lift the total to 179.

Stephen Bevan 4-26, Andrew Sutton 3-66 and Richard Wilkinson 2-25 were the most successful bowlers.

Green openers James Ord (82) and Nathan Newport (41) paved the way for a comfortable chase by sharing a first wicket stand of 117.

Craig Crowe (35no) steered the reply to 181 for 4 after 38.4 overs despite Ali returning figures of 3-54.

Barnt Green face a trip to West Bromwich Dartmouth this Saturday.

Green completed a marvellous weekend by reaching the regional final of the National KO competition thanks to a convincing seven wicket victory at fellow Birmingham League Premier Division rivals Knowle & Dorridge on Sunday.

The home side elected to bat on winning the toss and were dismissed for 207 with former Knowle player Tom Brown returning to haunt his old club by returning a smart 6-33 haul from nine tidy overs.

Green eased to 208 for 3 with 2.5 overs to spare thanks to Nathan Newport (76) and Jack Williams (77).

Meanwhile, leaders BROMSGROVE were knocked off the top of Division One after crashing to a heavy 117 run defeat at home to Walmley.

Freddie Coleman hit a superb 131 which helped Walmley total an imposing 284 for 6. Good support came from Chris Whittock (57) and Carlos Prowse (54), while Ash Newdick 4 for 69 proved pick of the Bromsgrove attack.

Bromsgrove lost wickets at regular intervals and were eventually dismissed for 166 in the 52nd over with Jayden Levitt (39), George Rhodes (21) and skipper Mark Evenson (27) top scoring.

Bromsgrove, who have slipped to third in the table, will be eager to bounce back when they entertain Coventry & North Warwickshire this Saturday.

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