BOARS captain Mark Evenson says that the target for his side for the second half of the season is to secure their Birmingham & District Premier Division Two status.
Evenson spoke after a sixth loss of the season at the hands of Bridgnorth – who won by four wickets after beating the host’s total of 115.
Deon Patel top scored with 28 for the Boars, a stark contrast to the unbeaten half-century scored by Jean-Pierre Erasmus (51no) and contribution of 46 by Adam Quiney for the visitors.
Gareth Williams demonstrated his bowling prowess once more, taking four wickets for 38 runs conceded, but the balance of the game was always against Bromsgrove following their below-par total.
Evenson looks ahead to a big game coming up on Saturday (noon) away to Halesowen, and urges his teammates to get back on track after two losses in succession.
“It’s going to be a good game, we’ve got Alistair [Hickman] back in the side to get something going, so we go there knowing that if we can put something together, then we stand a great chance,” he said.
“It’s always good to get results against sides around you, so Saturday is the perfect opportunity to do that.”
Bromsgrove won the toss and decided to bat first, but were slow out of the traps, losing opener Mike Hingley (5), while Jayden Levitt (8) and Alex Milton (0) lived out similar short stints at the crease.
The Bridgnorth bowlers were on form, with Adam Quiney (5-55) and Dan Kearsley (2-21) sharing the wickets between them in the early exchanges.
Ashley Newfield’s score of 16 was as good as it got for Bromsgrove’s top order, his dismissal at 45-4 doing little to inspire thoughts of a Boars victory.
Ryan Pedley did look promising at the crease when hitting 22 from 27 balls faced, but he was caught by David Exall off a Quiney delivery.
Matthew Russell followed in similar fashion – although Exall this time bowled the ball that was eventually claimed by Quiney, while Tom Hill’s (1) dismissal left the hosts looking perilous at 61-7.
Alex Wilkinson (18) managed to form a partnership of 30 with Patel, though their eventual dismissals at 113-9 paved the way for Sam Whitney to bowl Tom Russell (0) for lbw and end the Bromsgrove innings.
Bridgnorth started strongly in reply, with Ian Gregory (2) and Quiney (46) putting on 42 to open the innings, before Williams claimed his first wicket of the afternoon to remove Gregory from the crease.
Quiney followed soon after, this time caught by Williams from a Tom Russell delivery, though Bridnorth continued to accumulate regular runs.
David Exall (10), Joseph Smallman (0) and Thomas Weaver (1) were all lost cheaply, but their dismissals failed to halt the imperious Erasmus, who guided the visitors to victory in the 30th over.
Evenson did not feature in the loss, but having been informed of proceedings at St Godwald’s Road, said that Bromsgrove’s batting display had followed trends at various points in the season, and highlighted this area as one for improvement.
The Bromsgrove skipper views the remainder of the season now as a conscious effort to secure safety, with the club currently sitting in ninth – 34 points outside the drop zone.
“If you get around 200, 210 points – you’re safe,” said Evenson.
“Based on our current total, it’s not been good enough.
“We need a bit more consistency, our batting has been under par and we’ve been asking too much of our bowlers – so we need to find ways to be a bit more gritty in games.”
