Tenbury 172 Stourbridge Social 130-3 (winning draw for Stourbridge in a rain-affected game)

TENBURY were on the back foot from the moment they lost the toss on a raininterupted afternoon at Penlu.

None of their batsmen were able to play a major innings on a track which offered assistance to the Stourbridge bowlers.

The visitors lost early wickets themselves, but comfortably passed the winning draw target of 93 when the interruptions reduced their innings to 27 overs.

Tenbury still lead the way in Division 4 of the Worcestershire County League, eight points clear of secondplaced Alveley, with Stourbridge in third spot.

Seven Tenbury batsmen reached double figures, but Karl Baker (26) was the only one to reach 20, and the top score of 38 was down to extras.

Nine of the batsmen were cleanbowled with Alan Grif fiths and Zeeshan Ahmed sharing seven of the wickets during an interrupted innings.

The delays reduced the Stourbridge innings to 27 overs. Bruce Mason (2-22), who was making a welcome return after completing his university studies, and Ed Corfield soon had Social struggling at 23-3.

Ahmed (58 no) supported by Sakib Ali (29) re gained the upper hand and passed the winning-draw target with plenty to spare.

􀁥 Tenbury 2nd bounced back from their first defeat of the season the previous weekend, by pulling off an easy nine-wicket win at Stourbridg e Social 2nd to retain the leadership of their division.

The home side posted 55 for the first wicket, but once Jim Yeomans and Adrian Edwards had shifted the openers, the rest of the batting struggled, and Social were bowled out for 124.

Neil Crump (5-12 off seven overs) did most of the damage, but Gareth Edwards also chipped in with a two wickets.

Darren Thompson was caught for 14, but Kier Sellars joined Chris Giles and the pair cruised home in the 32nd over. Sellars was unbeaten on 59 while his partner was on 40.