BUOYANT skipper Mark Evenson joked he had a few extra grey hairs following Bromsgrove’s dramatic two-run victory over Birmingham League Division One relegation battlers Wellington.
The Boars had been put into bat by the Shropshire hosts and a 33-run last-wicket stand between Jack Taylor (45) and Gareth Williams (3 not out) proved decisive in Bromsgrove’s innings of 107 all out off 49.2 overs.
Matty Simmonds (5-25) and Simon Khomari (3-29) were the pick of Wellington’s bowlers.
In reply, Wellington looked as though were nailed on to claim victory at 105-6 with the help of Simon Khomari’s 35.
However, requiring just three runs to win, they failed to add a single run to gift Bromsgrove the unlikeliest of victories.
Ash Newfield (5-30) cleared up the tail-end while Alex Wilkinson (3-21) and Evenson (2-13) chipped in.
“To come back like that is totally unheard of in cricket,” said Evenson.
“I was in a similar situation about 15 years ago when we were playing Harborne and they needed just four or so runs to win but I took four wickets in four balls and they ended up losing.
“It’s safe to say I had a few more grey hairs after Saturday and the scenes afterwards were just amazing.
“We were asked to bat on a wet wicket but it was quite strange as the ones next to it were bone dry.
“That said, we were quite happy to have got into three figures with the bat and somehow we managed to come out on top in such fine margins.”
Bromsgrove’s dramatic victory moved them up to fourth in the table, just 26 points off second placed Kidderminster.
The Boars entertain third-from-bottom Oswestry on Saturday hoping to claim a third maximum 24-point victory on the spin.
However, Evenson will be without Ryan Pedley (holiday), Alec Baker (holiday), Jack Taylor (holiday) and Tom Green (wedding) but Deon Patel, Gregg Chinn and Tom Russell are expected to be promoted from the Seconds to deputise.
Warwickshire’s Aaron Thomason will also be available to bat.
“It’s not ideal we have a few players missing but it is a great opportunity for others to step up,” said Evenson.
“It’s important we go back to the basics once again to keep up our winning run but it is important we bat out all our overs.
“There are not many games where you are going to be out for 120 without batting all your overs and then manage to defend that total.”
