BARNT Green suffered an agonising defeat to Walmley as Shozair Ali and Sultan Afsal wreaked havoc at Cherry Hill Road.
Wicketkeeper Sam Cheshire top scored with 94 in the Birmingham League Premier Division, but he along with four others fell victim to the bowling of Ali.
Afsal also took four wickets as Green fell one run short of their opponents’ 193, with Michael Waugh claiming the match-winning wicket for Walmley.
The home side could not have got off to a better start as George Allen departed for a duck in the first over.
Walmley steadied the ship, with Jamie Harrison (30) and Carlos Prowse (25) digging in.
But Green took wickets at regular intervals as Tom Banton ran out Danial Chaudhry to leave the away side on 91-4.
Andrew Hendry made 35 off 28 balls before he was bowled by Joshua Poysden.
Banton and Tom Brown then combined to take the wickets of Kasir Shah and Waugh in quick succession.
But the visitors refused to give in as Jonathan Newis (13), Ali (24) and Ayres (17) all made vital contributions to take them to 193.
Green’s response was dented when Will Baker was uprooted by Ali for two.
But Cheshire and Henry Moberley set about taking their game to their opponents. Cheshire was looking particularly sharp as he made his half century.
But Ali soon got back into the grove as he removed Moberley before claiming the scalp of Banton who made a dogged 22. Then Afsal trapped Luke Radford and Poysden.
Cheshire had looked on target for a ton, but he fell six short as Ali got his fourth wicket.
This seemed to signal an end to Green’s fight as Afsal dismissed Oliver Butts (9), Tom Brown (15) and Callum Scott (0).
But they continued to plug away, with final wicket pair Alexander Woods and Simon Jackson frustrating Walmley. But with just two runs needed to snatch victory, Woods was clean bowled by Waugh.
