A REALITY check is needed if Ludlow are to climb away from the foot of the Premier Division of the Shropshire County League.

That’s the message from former skipper Will Sparrow after the Burway outfit slumped to a seven-wicket defeat to fellow strugglers Wellington on Monday.

And he admits the most frustrating thing was that the corner looked to have been turned when Ludlow romped to their first win of the season just two days earlier - a six-wicket drubbing of St Georges.

With a match at another struggling side, Allscott, on Saturday, Sparrow said it was important for players to raise their game.

“It was our worst performance of the season on Monday,” he explained. “We made a really decent start but the middle order failed again and our bowling wasn’t good enough.

“If our bowlers had performed like they did on Saturday then we would probably have been alright but as a team - myself included - we’re just not playing well enough. It’s frustrating because it would have been good to build on Saturday’s result.

“We need a bit of a reality check if we are to climb up the table as we think we’re better than we actually are at the moment.”

Against Wellington, Ludlow were put into bat and made an impressive start. Okera Bascombe and Sam Edwards put on 70 for the first wicket before the former was run out for 37.

Edwards fell soon after for 34 and from then on there was a steady flow of wickets with just three other players reaching double figures - Keanu Cooper (14), Josh Williams (12) and skipper Ruel Brathwaite (27) - as the hosts were dismissed for 159.

Against St Georges on Saturday, Brathwaite and Louis Watkins had sliced through the batting line-up to secure the win but they failed to conjure up the same magic on the Burway wicket as the visitors reached their target for the loss of just three wickets.

The prospects of back-to-back Ludlow wins had looked promising early on with Brathwaite (1-33) trapping opener Tom Masters for five after Sparrow had run out Dan Vaughan for one.

But from 22-2 Wellington dug in with Dan Lloyd (55), Matty Simmonds (44 no) and Josh Pistorious (31 no) guiding them home.

Excellent bowling from Louis Watkins and Ruel Brathwaite guided Ludlow to their first win of the season in the Premier Division of the Shropshire County League on Saturday.

Watkins led the way with 6-16 with skipper Brathwaite taking 4-19 as lowly St Georges were dismissed for just 42.

Ludlow then lost just four wickets on their way to victory, opener Okera Bascombe leading the way with 16 including two 6s.