Time to put Barnards Green winless streak right, says Boars captain Evenson - The Bromsgrove Standard

Time to put Barnards Green winless streak right, says Boars captain Evenson

Bromsgrove Editorial 16th Aug, 2019   0

SKIPPER Mark Evenson says Bromsgrove will look to put right a three-year winless streak against Barnards Green on Saturday (noon), when the two sides go head-to-head in Birmingham & District Premier Division Two.

Bromsgrove have not beaten The Green since July 2016, losing their six encounters since then.

Evenson says a victory this weekend would provide not only a psychological boost, but further momentum to build upon for the remainder of the season. adding to last weekend’s seven-wicket victory over Leamington.

“We always gift them 40 points or so a season, so we need to put that right,” he said.




“A victory means we would start to move up the table, and get back-to-back victories for the first time this season.

“It won’t be easy, but we’re looking to finish on a high.”


A reduced-overs meeting with Leamington at St. Godwalds Park returned the Boars to winning ways, with unbeaten batsman Ashley Newfield (49no) and Alistair Hickman (8no) firing them to victory with 20 balls to spare.

Visitors Spa batted first but lost Waqar Ahmed (0) from the second ball, who was the first dismissal taken by Gareth Williams (4-2).

Williams then dismissed Ibrahim Afzal (2) and Oliver Currill (0) as Leamington slipped to 24-3, with the visitors struggling to build up a head of steam.

Harrison Smith (49) oversaw several short-lived partnerships to drag his side to an 82-8 score, until eventually being dismissed by Ashley Newfield (2-8).

Nabeel Asghar (5) was stumped by Lewis Cordes shortly after from the penultimate ball, as the visitors saw out their innings.

Bromsgrove stumbled at the crease in reply, losing Ryan Pedley (6) at 9-1, but recovered with Jayden Levitt (12) and Newfield’s second-wicket partnership of 49.

Currill’s catch to dismiss Levitt off Asghar’s delivery prompted a momentary dip in performance, with Greg Chinn (0) being caught from the first ball he faced.

The Boars roared back once more however, ending with a partnership of 32 to win the game.

Evenson says the victory was a crucial one, and says the delayed start helped, rather than hindered his side.

“It was a very important win, they’re one of the top sides in the division, so considering the conditions, we did really well.

“Gareth set the tone and the standard with his bowling, and Ashley followed up at the crease.

“When you turn up early at 10am, and the first ball isn’t bowled until 4pm, it can be hard to keep motivated in those situations.

“But they those games can also havea big impact on the season, and the conditions certainly helped us on Saturday.”

He believes safety is all but certain and says a major catastrophe, plus several wins for the bottom two, would be needed to take Bromsgrove down, and is hopeful of closing the gap to the top three with 100 points still to play for.

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