Eastnor lost by seven wickets at home to local rivals Barnards Green after a spectacular Eastnor batting collapse.

EASTNOR II v BARNARDS GREEN II

Eastnor were asked to bat first on a slightly damp wicket after loosing the toss and the Greens opening bowlers Brown (Jnr) and Williams bowled extremely tightly, restricting the Eastnor openers to less than two an over for the first eight overs.

The next eight overs were a different story though as Dave Goodman and Alan Barnes started to knock the ball around as Williams finished his spell and Brooks had 14 taken from his first two overs the Eastnor had rocketed from 15 from eight to 64 from 16 overs. The Eastnor pair continued to average nearly six an over from then as Goodman reached his 50 a few overs before drinks and Barnes planted R Brown (Snr) for 6 into the neighbouring cornfield for his 50 a few overs later.

Two overs later, the 30th, with Eastnor at 140 Brown (Snr) captured Goodman (80) LBW. Brown then took Astbury(7) in his next over, The re-introduced Williams removed Faisal(0) with a wicket maiden. Brown (Snr) then got his revenge on Barnes (57) and from that point on no Eastnor batsman scored above five, as excellent bowling and bad batting saw Eastnor collapse to 177 all out from 46.2 overs. R Brown (Snr) finished with figures of 5-31 and Williams 4-31.

The Green's reply was hard hitting as the openers J Clarke and P Yorke took just nine overs to reach 42 before Nazeer bowled Yorke for 14. A Lamb (3) then came to the middle, where he supported the occasionally fortunate Clarke as the Green outscored the Eastnor side reaching 72 in 16 overs.

Dave Entwistle captured Lamb, bringing the powerful A Wheeler to the centre, he proved to be an extremely good puller of the ball, first seeing off Entwistle, then knocking 23 off Goodman's third over (including 2 sixes and 2 fours) all through or over midwicket.

When Goodman captured Clarke (66) in the 26th over, with a well-taken catch by Tom Hurrell at deep long on, the Green had already reached 156. Less that three more overs were required for the Green to complete their double over Eastnor finishing at 178-3 in just 28.2 overs.

Eastnor would like to thank match sponsors Abbotsfield Funeral Directors of Ledbury for their continued support.