Wormelow have slipped back into the relegation zone in Division Two of the Worcestershire League after a disappointing defeat by visiting Enville.

The villagers, who lost the toss and were put in on a damp wicket, failed to capitalise on a good start as they subsided to 122-9 and then, as conditions eased, did not bowl well enough to restrict the Staffordshire side who won with almost 10 overs to spare.

“We set ourselves a target of getting to 150 and we could have got there but we just needed to bat a bit better,”

said skipper Tim Boulter.

“And then, when we didn’t get to 150 we needed to bowl better than we did.

“It’s very disappointing not to have played to our potential in such an important game.”

The home side had done well after being put in with openers Matt Evans (25) and Ben Owens (14) taking the score to the half-century mark.

However, both were dismissed in quick succession with skipper Boulter following, dispatched for a duck.

Tom Bevan reached 17 and although Lee Watkins produced some good strokes in getting to 22, no-one was able to capitalise on a good start.

“We had a long batting line-up but losing three wickets in quick succession set us back,” said Boulter.

“No-one went on to get a score and although Lee Watkins batted well until he top-edged one, the rest just produced dribs and drabs.”

The disappointing day continued for the home side as Enville got away to a solid start.

“Shaun Waldron bowled well and was very tight, as he always is, but generally there was too much short stuff and too many full-tosses for that track,” said Boulter.

“Shaun got a couple of wickets in his second spell but we didn’t back him up.”

Waldron picked up 2-31 with Alistair Main (1-23) claiming the other victim but Enville reached their target with few alarms.

With rivals Feckenham winning last Saturday, Wormelow are now 16 points from safety so need to hope that, after three wins in five matches, the weekend reverse was simply a blip.

“We have four games to go now and we are going to need some positive results starting from our game at Burghill & Tillington this weekend,” said Boulter.

“We gave them a very good game earlier on in the season when there were only six runs between the sides so we just need to do a bit better than that.

“We have two games against sides in the bottom half of the table and Feckenham are our opponents at Wormelow on the last day of the season so there is all to play for.

“We just need to be within half-a-game’s points tally of Feckenham when they come to play us and I am still confident that we can get the right results and stay up.” remarked Boulter.