Alcester & Ragley 1st (257-8) beat Ashton under Hill 1st (207-4) by 50 runs

After being put into bat at Ashton under Hill the Ragley batsmen prospered on a good wicket for batting. After picking the order from a hat debutant Simon Sloan opened the batting with captain Ben Lee and the pair put on 46 for the first wicket in 10 overs before Sloan was undone by a good in swinger from Will Archer for 16. After nearly running Peachey out without facing a ball, another partnership of 46 then followed between Lee and Adam Peachey who was out bowled by Cope for 18 after again misjudging a straight one for the 3rd week in a row. Lee was out in the following over for 47 after a shocking shot from the bowling of Jason Glazier and was caught at mid off, the score was now 97-3. Lee blamed the rashness of his shot on the fact that no one applauded the shot of the day in the previous over as his majestically struck Cope to the extra cover fence with an imperious drive. Lewis Clark (Mr Rotavator) kept the runs flowing as his first 6 scoring shots were all boundary fours, including 4 in 4 balls from Glazier. Clark really seemed at home in the setting surrounded by fields of sprouts and corn. In partnership with young Sam Westwood they added 80 runs in 9 overs before Clark was out for an excellent 51 with 9 fours and 1 six. Westwood then took the mantle and accelerated his scoring rate as he hit a six and 8 fours to reach his 1st 50 for the firsts, as he showed it wasn’t just in the nets he could slap mediocre bowling around. He was out with the score at 247-8 in the 43rd over. Capron and Reader added 10 to this total as Ragley reached 257-8 in their 45 overs. Reader doing well to not score off the final 4 balls of the innings, maybe he thought we already had enough. Pick of the Ashton bowling was Archer who finished with 2-42. The only contribution from the other bowlers was 43 extras which were very welcome.

Ashton’s openers started cautiously in reply against some tight new ball bowling from Steve Capron and Julian Reader, except for one over that went for 12 from Capron, all of which were from edges from Haines that flew either over or past the slips from excellent deliveries. The Ashton opening pair of Cooper and J Haines were riding their luck however as Reader had 2 chances put down early on in the slips by Peachey, one hitting in the guts before he had moved. He blamed new keeper Wright for this as he said he couldn’t see round him which was quite a fair excuse really. Although Ragley had not made the breakthrough the scoring rate was pedestrian against some good tight lines being bowled, and Reader finished his 10 overs with no wickets for only 16 runs. Sid Bennett and Westwood kept the scoring down as they took off from where the opening bowlers had finished. Bennett was particularly impressive as he bowled his 10 overs for 40 when the chase was on. Westwood did seem intent on bowling to Haines only shot though as he bowled short and wide on numerous occasions, but got away with it due to some excellent fielding placing by Lee that saw 5 fielders between the keeper and point. After 30 overs the score was 110 for 0 with a further 148 needed for victory from 15 overs, virtually 10 an over so something had to give (in the words of G Strain). Tom Morris was introduced into the attack at this stage and had Haines dropped immediately by Devo (“I didn’t see it, did it carry?” – Adam Devey), however this was made up for later in the over as Peachey clung onto his 4th chance of the game to dismiss Haines for 67 out on the long off boundary. Fellow opener Cooper fell in Morris’s next over as he spooned a catch up to the covers where Adam Devey took the catch. In the desperate search for runs the 2 next batsmen were deceived by the wily Morris as they were both bowled. The next batsmen shut up shop and coasted in to 207-4 from their 45 overs with Archer unbeaten on 18 and D Haines on 15. Morris was the only wicket taker for Ragley as he finished with season best figures of 4-41.  Lee and Peachey came on for the 1st time this season and impressed with the ball as they bowled the final 2 overs, Lee 0-8 and Peachey 0-6. In the end an emphatic win, but some shoddy catching once again, although the ground fielding was excellent and Wrights keeping although unorthodox conceded only 3 byes which was an excellent return, his technique of taking the ball before it has passed the stumps though may come under closer scrutiny against umpires that know what they’re doing!