Ledbury 2nds eased to their second win of the season against bottom club Knighton 2nds, despite being hit by late withdrawals.

LEDBURY 2ND XI v KNIGHTON 2ND XI

After winning the toss, captain Ehrlich asked Knighton to bat first hoping to take advantage of some remaining moisture in the wicket, however despite the early endeavours of Phillips and Watkins, Ledbury failed to get the early breakthrough and the Knighton openers set about making a solid start.

With limited bowling resources Ledbury kept at their task, making runs difficult to come by. The got their one and only reward when Greening, who bowled well all afternoon, induced Jones to play on with the score on 82. For the rest of their innings Knighton failed to accelerate the scoring rate or use the advantage of their wickets in hand. In the final ten overs only 40 runs were scored, Cadwallader carried his bat for a counter-productive 47 whilst Griffiths ended on 37.

Special mention must go to the fielding efforts of late replacements Tom Beard and Jamie Edwards who both played their part in a battling Ledbury performance.

On what was now a perfect strip for batting Ledbury set about the Knighton bowling in confident manner, and despite the early loss of Butler, they quickly got up with the run rate.

Cooper played some lovely shots on both sides of the wicket before suffering a lapse in concentration and falling for 19. This brought Richard Punt to join Rob Greening at the wicket and the latter once again looked in great form before being caught by Jones trying to despatch Cadwallader over long-on.

At this point the game was in the balance at 62-3 and another quick wicket would have tilted the game Knighton's way, the fears were dispelled once Ehrlich managed to play himself in and with some fantastic running between the wickets he and Punt eased Ledbury towards victory.

Together the pair added 84 runs in 14 overs Punt finishing up with a well constructed 29, Ehrlich 37no with five 4's to give Ledbury victory by seven wickets and 13 overs left.

Tomorrow (Saturday) the 2nds go to Bulmers. Players meet 1pm.