HEREFORDSHIRE suffered from the absence of opening bowler Callum Stewart as they slid to a 68-run defeat in their second MCCA KO Trophy clash with Northumberland at Jesmond.

Brockhampton pace-man Stewart injured a finger in his club’s victory over Wolverhampton and the county side certainly missed his new-ball penetration as the Northumberland’s openers John Clark (51) and Daniel Young (67) racked up 132 before being parted.

Herefordshire’s spin attack of Steve Bevan (3-43) and Brad Wadlan (3-46) were the most successful of the county’s bowlers, with skipper Dave Exall (1-39) picking up the other wicket as the home side eased to 246-9 from their 50 overs.

Herefordshire made a poor start to their reply with Ben Stebbings dismissed in just the second over.

Liam Gwynne (21) and Wadlan (59) got in the innings back on track but the Herefordshire middle-order, with the exception of the returning Atiq Chishti (31), failed to make much of an impact.

Chris Powell (22) and Tom Austwick (19 not out), who had made the five-hour journey to Jesmond as a late call-up in place of Stewart, added some attractive late runs but Herefordshire fell well short of their target.

The county are next in action at home to Cambridgeshire at Colwall on Sunday, May 26.