We won the toss and batted, which should have been OK given we had our strongest batting line up today. At the start we were scoring quickly due mostly to generous donations of extras, but a sequence of dismissals got us to a pretty catastrophic 120-7 at drinks. Only Pro and Barbs got in, and they both went to rash shots. Everybody else seemed to face a couple of overs then get bowled. To put it in context Junior and SB added 18 after tea, and both faced more balls than any of our front line bats, Pro excepted. JC had moved to plan B on the wicket after rain, and there was variable bounce, but we can’t use that as an excuse. For Solihull I thought Harvey Satterthwaite was impressive again. He is as quick as anyone in this league and has been a handful in both of our games against Solihull.

Thoughts were that if the wicket was playing up and we could get a couple of early wickets we might get ourselves back in it. The word was that they were batsmen short today. No chance though. Altaf and Bashir were got the score to 50 before tea with some sensible positive batting. When they were out the next two looked equally composed, and numbers 5 and 6 looked pretty good as well.

Seconds won at Corley. JK took 5-11, then 50s for Michael Gales and Dan Howells to land the 24 points. Congratulations to Michael on getting a first in Sports Journalism. Also a return from Africa for Binga. I’m told his first ball was pukka but the rest were pies!

On Saturday we won the toss and inserted the opposition on a damp wicket. Luke Duggins made the early breakthrough, getting their opener caught at short mid wicket. Opportunities to get amongst their middle order were squandered with a total of seven catches going down before the hundred came up. At 100-3 Pak Shaheen had a solid base but at last we started to take our chances. Steady got the next two wickets, Simon Rose a run out and finally four wickets for Chris Darling to polish them off. A modest target of 148 to win represented pretty good work, but it could have been a lot less, and certainly was no gimme with the wicket offering plenty of help to the bowlers.

Not for the first time this season Michael Gales proved the anchor to our innings, batting for over two hours for 59 not out off 118 balls. At the other end partners came and went with alarming regularity. Joe Simms had one rear off a length, then Chris Cook was caught behind first ball. JK joined the procession for 2 leaving us 18-3. Duncan Moore, who had dislocated a finger when dropping one of our catches, got the score to 60 before being bowled off an inside edge, but again disasters come in threes and he was quickly followed by DaveHowells and Paul Darling. Second favourites now at 74-6, with the need for a partnership getting urgent. Tim came in at 8, saw off their troublesome opening bowler, and started to edge us towards the target. Some gritty determination was rewarded in the end when we reached the target in the 44^th over.

Fillongley 183 all out    Bretforton 173 all out

We are through to the quarter finals of the npower Village Cup after a tense 10 run win over the Cotswold Hills League leaders and champions. In two weeks time we host Quatt, who hail from Shropshire.

Batting first , Reg and Pro made a steady start, seeing off the opening bowlers and taking us to 39-0 in 11 overs. The introduction of their captain Jones led to things going wrong. He took wickets in each of his first three overs to leave us at 51-3. Waqar tried to hit us out of trouble but nicked to the keeper after making 14 off 11 balls. We needed a partnership, and it came from Azza and Tom Barber. 59 were added in quick time before Azza fell to what looked a very tight run out decision. Barbs went on to make 48 off 43 balls – ultimately a match winning innings. Runs from the tail got us to a competitive 183, though we were bowled out a couple of overs short.

Strangely the feeling amongst the opposition camp seemed to be that it was start the car time, even though 183 will win more games than lose them in this format. They soon knew they were in a game as the openers had no clue how to combat a brilliant spell from Junior. Davies kept out 20 balls for 2, but could have gone any time. Daud got him well caught at slip by Barber. The openers made 3 and 2, then Dell and Berry started to rebuild, taking the score to 71. At the end of Steves spell the big shots came. A six and a four, then both were back in the hutch within 4 balls. Reg took an excellent over the shoulder catch to get rid of Berry. With rain about Bretforton needed to stay ahead of the run rate so shots started to come. Jones tried to hit his second ball from Tom Nightingale and holed out to Daud on the boundary. With him gone and the score 86-5 at halfway we looked well placed. There was work to do though as Witts and Stanley put together their best partnership. They took the score to 40 short of the target before Stanley was tempted by the straight boundary and hit Tom Nightingale to Barber. A diving one handed catch from Waqar saw off the number 8 then another straight hit from Witts and a great catch above his head from Barber. Tom Nightingale took a fourth wicket leaving the last pair 11 short with 14 balls left, but an attempt to scramble a second run gave Reg a shy at one stump from 20 yards. Champagne moment!

Thanks to all who travelled. The support was magnificent. Thanks of course to all the players. A fantastic performance against a good team, but we were the best team on the day and the result was right. Apologies for not getting the report up earlier but for most of the day my liver has been recovering.

 We came out on top in another see-saw game with Atherstone this afternoon. As far as I can remember it’s the first time we’ve beaten them, but for much of the day it didn’t look like it was going to happen.

We were put in on a pitch that, not surprisingly, looked a bit damp. Progress was very slow against some accurate bowling from Healey, and at drinks we were 62-2. Chris Hill was to say the least watchful, making 36 before being fourth out in the 33^rd over. It wasn’t great to watch, but it’s rare for matches to be lost because openers hang around. In the context of the game it was an important innings, setting up an attack over the closing overs. So it proved. Debutant Simon Cooke and Tom Barber came together to add 93 in 12 overs and make the total respectable (though I thought probably not defendable given the absence of front line bowlers). Barber made 40 off 33 balls and Cooke 54 off 55.

The reply saw Luke Reeves scoring at a Handsworth rate. He reached 50 off just 32 balls, and quickly hit Reg and SB out of the attack. Given that we didn’t start with a lot of bowling things didn’t look good. The score reached 112-2 in 17 overs, which is the same  total as our opponents  reached at this stage last week, and Reeves we know is capable of causing as much damage as any of the Handsworth players. Then Reeves charged Azza and missed, giving Phil his 3rd victim,  and next over it was 4, this time the prized wicket of Pickering. The game had swung decisively, and he took wickets in each of his next two overs to leave Adders on 150-6 after 29 overs. Griggs made 26 late on to make the score close. It was probably a case of Azza staying on three overs too long. Reg came back to bowl him then Simon Cooke had the young wicket keeper lbw to tie up a 10 run win and 24 points.

Stats note (to Shawn):- Barbers average is 30. The stats are pretty well correct on Play Cricket but you have to filter for Saturday First Team and League matches, Otherwise random games uploaded by opposition teams get included.

We overcame Griff and Coton in a tense game last night to stay in the hunt for the title. Our last game is at home next week against Bedworth, and a win would leave Bedworth needing to win their last game to share top spot. Griff are certainly the best of the rest. The first game against them was very tight so this was a potential banana skin, especially as it clashed with various school leaving parties.

The start was delayed as the runups were too wet, and eventually we shifted to another track to start a 16 over game at about 6.20. Griff batted first and got off to a flyer. 44 were on the board after 5 overs, with Jonny Brown going for 30 in his 3. Jonny did get Chaudry for 21 then Harry Tregonning struck with 3 wickets in 7 balls to leave Griff 56-4 at the halfway stage. Tight bowling from Mason Kerr (2-17) and Charlie Mulhall (3-12) polished them off for 89 with one ball remaining. At this stage, given the absence of some of our big guns, it was probably 50/50.

Mulhall and Smith were out by the end of the second over, so we were dependent on Will Vines and Jonny Brown making some inroads into the total. They didn’t disappoint, putting together a 50 partnership at better than the required rate. Both had a bit of fortune with dropped catches, but were looking to finish the game when Jonny went for a second on a misfield and was run out for 25 (five 4s). Sam Brady was supposed to hold up an end but got to 11 after facing 4 balls, and Will progressed to 39 before falling with 7 needed. There were a few more jitters before Harry took a single to level the scores and was presented with a second from an overthrow. Victory with 4 balls to spare.