Kington 1st XI v Eastnor 1st XI

WADWORTH 6X NATIONAL VILLAGE CHAMPIONSHIPS

THERE will be no run into the national stages of the village cricket championship for Eastnor this year after the team succumbed to a disappointing defeat by old rivals Kington.

Eastnor's five wicket defeat in the 3rd round of the regional stages leaves Colwall as the only local team still in the competition.

In a low-scoring match, which lasted almost the full number of overs, Eastnor were put in to bat and struggled, five of the first six overs being maidens.

The visitors soon found themselves 7-2 with 11 of the allotted 40 overs gone.

Skipper, Christiaan Ferreira, again did his bit for the team, and after losing Bollen (6) for another stubborn innings, he put on 76 runs for the fourth wicket with Asif (32).

From the Eastnor point of view this was the highlight of the day.

The stand lasted 18 overs and runs were still difficult to come by as Gwynne (2-20) and the impressive Morgan (1-12) finished their nine over spells.

Exel (3-27) joined the attack to put Eastnor under even more pressure, claiming the wickets of Asif and, four runs later, Ferreira at 103 in the 34th over for a well struck 54, including six 4's.

A late spell by Kington's Price's saw Eastnor all out for the modest total of 118 with just one over to spare.

The Kington reply was slow, but with such a low total for victory they had plenty of time.

Nick Hitchings and Naeem bowled tightly claiming a wicket each in a 14 over spell to put the home side at 14-2.

Clive Scott (48 no) and D Exel (22) then used their experience to push Kington on. An easy three runs on over were all that was required and with both batting sensibly victory was on the cards.

A good catch from Amir off Harris dismissed Exel at 62, before Edward Price (19) continued on well with Scott taking the scores level at 118-3.

Then a bit of vintage Jim Sandford bowling saw two wickets fall in successive balls, before Scott scored the winning run in the following over.

Sandford will have to wait a week on a possible hat-trick.

For new skipper Ferreira it was his first defeat as captain.

"It was an embarrassing day for us," he said.

n The weekend saw all of Colwall's fixtures fall victim to the wet weather at both Gloucester in the league and the third round village knockout tie against Aston Ingham.

This game will now take place on Sunday, 4 June, at Colwall with play starting at 2pm.

Tomorrow (Saturday) Colwall entertain Winget in an important Division 1 match, with Colwall still looking for their first league win of the season.