Alcester & Ragley 1st (284-5) beat Henley 1st (268-8) by 16 runs

Ragley were asked to bat first on what looked to be a superb wicket to bat on, and so it proved. Opener Adam Warbrick was quickly into his stride as he raced to 33 before being trapped lbw by Ray Perry with the score at 57. Captain Ben Lee then joined Marc Woolley at the crease and the 2 of them lifted the score to 115 in the 21st over before Lee was caught at square leg for 31. The batting hero from last week Gary Strain was lbw first ball and Ragley had a few gitters with the score now 115-3. These were quickly stopped by the new batsman Lewis Clark who got off the mark with a towering 6 and never looked back after this. In partnership with Woolley the pair added 105 in good time with Clark scoring the majority of the runs as Woolley looked to give him the strike at every opportunity. Woolley was fourth out for a well constructed 66. The final 7 overs produced 75 runs as Ragley posted a massive total with all the later Henley bowlers taking punishment. Clark finished unbeaten just 4 short of his 1st league century on 96, and Adam Peachey chipped in with 27 from just 13 balls as Ragley set Henley 285 to win. 

Ragley began well in the field as Julian Reader claimed the wicket of Khan lbw with his first ball. How the other opener Ross and new batsman Hearnden found the wicket to their liking as well as raced to 54 from 9 overs. At this stage Hearnden (22) played his first loose shot which resulted in him being caught in the covers, and 4 overs later Ross (36) repeated the shot to also be caught in the covers by Lee, both off the bowling of Reader. Ragley knew that the game was a long way from being over however as new batsman Stibbon struck his first 4 balls for 4 to keep Henley well up with the run rate as the 100 came up in the 15th over. Stibbon continued, in partnership with Pahl, to take the attack to Ragley and the score had reached 180-3 when Ragley took a vital wicket, that of Pahl for 33 from the bowling of Morris. Ragley had put themselves under pressure as they dropped Stibbon 4 times as he almost made them pay as Henley careered on towards the large victory target. With just 96 runs required from the final 15 overs a double bowling change was made that was ultimately to win Ragley the game. The opening batting partnership of Woolley and Warbrick now came on to bowl in tandem and they both bowled superb spells, just giving Stibbon the singles and cutting out the boundaries that had been coming so easily. The run rate soared and 50 were required from the final 4 overs, and with Stibbon still in this was possible. But he was starved of the strike and Ragley eased home by 16runs. Stibbon finished unbeaten on 129 as he led Henley’s charge towards the big target. Warbrick claimed two wickets as he finished with 2-38 in 8 overs and Woolley, although wicketless, bowled equally as tidily to finish with 0-35 from 7 overs.