DEPLETED Tenbury Wells CC were one of the few Worcestershire League clubs to get a game on last weekend – but their efforts went unrewarded in a rain-affected Division Nine defeat to Romsley and Hunnington seconds.

Batting first, Tenbury, who were only able to muster ten players, struggled to accumulate runs in an innings interrupted by rainfall and were all out for 167 in the 43rd over.

After Tom Pugh (9) was clean-bowled early on, fellow opener and skipper Ben Thompson (36) tried to set a solid foundation with the support of Chris Giles (21).

They succeeded to an extent but a flurry of wickets from Romsley bowler Stuart Jarvis (4-17) put the hosts on the back foot again.

Jamie Farrar’s 28 and a fine 30 from tail-ender Stephen Giles at least gave Tenbury a defendable total but their numerical disadvantage caught up with them in the field.

Rain meant Romsley’s reply would be reduced to 27 overs with a revised target of 123 – and, helped by gaps in the field, they raced to that total with ten overs to spare, for the loss of just two wickets.

Edward Holland (35), Matthew Peverelli (27no) and Matthew Whittlestone (27) eased the visitors home. Farrar and Jonathan Duce took the wickets to fall.

Tenbury’s Second XI also lost, by 25 runs, at Stourport-on-Severn fourths in Division Twelve South West despite the best efforts of Nigel Payne.

Payne took 3-22 as Stourport were restricted to 135-7 from a rain-reduced 30 overs but Tenbury could only reach 110-7 in reply as Jaideep Singh (34) and Payne (25) top-scored.