SKIPPER Andrew Sutton praised his youthful Barnt Green side for stopping their Birmingham League Premier Division five-game losing streak with a battling draw at Wolverhampton.
The Cherry Hill Road side were set an imposing score of 315-5 to chase down on Saturday with Matthew Kleinveldt leading the way with an impressive 142 off 155 balls.
It could have been a different story if Kleinveldt had not been dropped on two occasions as Worcestershire’s Aneesh Kapil also smashed 95 off 103 balls to leave the hosts in a good position.
In response, Green’s Jamie Harrison (95) and Tom Brown (43) put on 108 for the first wicket before the latter was removed by Zen Malik.
Edward Pollock (35) and Matthew Lamb (48) also contributed before Green’s lower order dug deep to claim a losing draw, posting 282-7 after 55 overs.
“We did really well to restrict Wolverhampton to 315 because at one point they looked as though they could reach 350,” Sutton said.
“It was a really good effort from our bowlers but we dropped Kleinveldt twice which put us on the back foot.
“We then did really well with the bat as Jamie and Tom added plenty of runs before Matt and Edward chipped in as well.
“To have scored close to 290 was really pleasing, especially in terms of how poor we have been with the bat in recent weeks.
“However, I think it needed one or two of our lads to push into the 100s on Saturday to stand any chance of winning.”
Third-from-bottom Green will hope to claim their first victory since May on Saturday when they entertain Dorridge.
Sutton is expected to be boosted by the returns of England under-19 star Tom Banton and strike bowler Ben Lad-Gibbon.
“We have a quality batting line-up but it’s all about building confidence,” Sutton added.
“We are trying to strive for perfection and are getting better.
“Stopping the rot on Saturday was a bonus and hopefully we carry that into the game against Dorridge.
“Hopefully I can win the toss and put us into bat first so we can put some pressure on them.”
