COLWALL made a disappointing start to their Worcestershire League Division 1 campaign as they crashed to a decisive 97-run home defeat by Bewdley.

New captain Ben Cooke had little hesitation in asking the visitors to bat on a soft pitch and the decision looked a sound one as some accurate and pace bowling from Mike Gooch and Dan Newby tied down the Bewdley top order.

Gooch made the initial breakthrough as Ash Fearnell was superbly caught low down by keeper Ben Wheeler, and he then went on to clean bowl both Nick Wilkinson and Mike Harris to leave Bewdley struggling on 55-3 in the 21st over.

Newby then gave way to Fergus Cameron, but the move proved problematic as midway through his first over Cameron sent down successive no-ball beamers, which under new laws meant the umpires had to rule him out of the attack for the rest of the innings.

Meanwhile, Bewdley danger man, Rob Combes had begun striking the ball cleanly and clinching an unbeaten 108, including 12 fours and four sixes, as 17 runs came in the last over to push the total to 225-8, Mike Gooch finishing with an excellent 4-35 from his 16 overs.

Facing a daunting target on a slow wicket, Colwall just held out to reach 128-9 at the close with wicket keeper Ben Wheeler finishing on 25 and captain Ben Cooke on 24.