Alcester & Ragley 1st (200-7) beat Leamington IIIs (182 all out) by 18 runsC

Alcester & Ragley got back to winning ways with a hard fought victory over bottom club Leamington in what could be Shaun Quirke’s last league game for the club.

Opting to bat first after winning the toss Ragley got off to a slow start thanks mainly to a superb opening spell from Zac Grant, who bowled his first 7 overs for only 12 runs and was rewarded with the wicket of Gary Strain for 1. Leamington’s change bowlers of Rob Grant and Paul Ashmore continued the good work of the opening bowlers and it was a real grind for Ragley as they reached 56-3 in the 20th over. Paul Dipple came in and accelerated the scoring as is his way, before he was out for 20. It was not to be a fairy tale ending with the bat for Quirke who has amassed over 80 centuries for the club in his 25 years of service, as he holed out to long on for 36 from the bowling of Ryan. At this stage Ragley looked as though they may only post a mediocre score as they were 126-5 with only 9 overs left. It was at this stage that Adam Warbrick (30) and Adam Peachey (44) took the attack to Leamington. They added 74 in only 7 overs to get Ragley up the 200 mark. Peachey especially batted well as he hit 8 fours and one towering 6 off Zac Grant. Leamington bowled very well as a unit, Ryan finishing with the best figures of 3-28 although both Grants (Z 1-30 and R 0-28) bowled well without the rewards they deserved.

In reply Leamington began aggressively and opening bat Auld looked to punish Ragley for dropping him twice early on. He was scoring well until Quirke had him lbw when he had made 34 out of the first 50 runs. Ex Ragley player Will Bellfield and captain Matt Dale continued the flow of runs until Quirke then had Bellfield leg before for 25. This strangled the run rate and when Dale was next out to a smart catch standing up to stumps by Strain for 30, Leamington required 100 runs from 18 overs with 7 wickets left. Tom Morris was introduced into the attack at this juncture and although his first 2 overs had been a little expensive he claimed a major break through in his 3rd over when he had Ebanks caught in the gully for 18. Morris then claimed 2 further wickets in quick time as Leamington struggled to stay up with the ever increasing run rate. Steve Capron returned and picked up 2 wickets in his 2nd spell as the run rate climbed to 10 an over. With 2 wickets required in the final 3 overs for Ragley to claim maximum points Quirke returned and bowled Smith in his first over and then fittingly bowled Credington with only 3 balls remaining to leave Leamington all out for 182. Quirke finished with 4-17 from 9.3 overs and Morris claimed 3-43 as Ragley scrapped home by only 18 runs. Saturday’s home game was sponsored by Autolamps. Ragley move on to play Moreton in Marsh away this Saturday.