BARNT Green slipped to a rare defeat at Cherry Hill Road last weekend, after losing out by two wickets against Knowle & Dorridge in Birmingham & District Premier Division One.
The loss has effectively ended The Green’s hopes of a second-place finish, with third place still not sealed following fourth-placed Shifnal’s win at Shrewsbury.
After being put into bat first, Barnt Green lost opener Matthew Lamb (0) from the penultimate ball of the first over, though Zain Ul-Hassan (41) and Jacques Banton’s (57) partnership of 93 quickly made amends.
It was a stand that the hosts desperately tried to replicate, but with Banton next to go shortly after at 119-3, The Green struggled to regain momentum.
Daniel Meredith (31) helped the cause by taking Barnt Green closer to the 200-run mark, though a final score of 211 was always going to require a strong bowling effort.
K&D responded with a solid opening partnership of 47 between Tom Smith (20) and Alex Phillips (51), followed by an initial slump to 73-3.
A stand of 57 between Phillips and captain Sam Reddish (32) got the visitors back on track, largely in part to the latter’s score.
But in the space of five balls, the visitors lost three wickets to slip to 130-6, with Darrel Williams (3-27) taking a couple and Andrew Sutton (2-51) adding his second dismissal of the afternoon.
Gareth Davies (16) stopped the run from continuing prior to being dismissed by Williams, but his intervention proved crucial, allowing Blake Coburn (31) and Jack Grundy (32no) to take Knowle & Dorridge within touching distance of the 216 DLS target.
Coburn fell at 209-8 after being bowled by Adam Hines, but it was too little, too late for Barnt Green, as the visitors saw out victory.
The Green host lowly Moseley on Saturday (noon).
