Anyone who was unaware of the standard format of Birmingham League cricket could have been forgiven for thinking they had turned up to watch a Twenty20 match, such was the home sides rather expansive approach to batting in the early overs. This approach left them 72-5 after just 12 overs, certainly an impressive run rate, but the loss of key wickets before any significant damage had been done left Brewood struggling to post a challenging score.

Having won the toss, visiting skipper Richard Bradley chose to bowl, leaving Brewood the opportunity to bat on a good deck with a fast outfield and relatively short boundaries on 3 sides of the ground; a score of well over 200 was the home side’s target. The wickets, however, soon began to fall, Richard Hewitt the first depart for 0, edging the fourth ball of the game to Jitesh Patel at gully off the bowling of Ikram Mussadaq. Fellow opener Lewis Jelfs was soon following Hewitt back to the pavilion after making just 5, becoming Mussadaq’s second victim when he edged through to wicket-keeper Josh Banks while attempting a rather expansive shot.

With leading run-scorer Bruce Thomason missing, skipper Cameron Fox decided to keep Andy Day at number 3, moving himself down to the number 4 slot. The pair started to build a promising partnership, both scoring quickly and finding the boundary regularly. But Day, having made 15 from 19 balls, had to depart when adjudged lbw to Audy Alexander. This brought Chris Tranter to the crease and there was certainly no reduction in the run rate; Tranter and Fox scoring freely on both sides of the wicket. Tranter made 23 off just 18 balls and looked in good form, launching Mussadaq for a huge 6 down the ground, but in attempting to repeat the act just 3 balls later, only succeeded in skying the ball to Richard Bradley at mid-on. Fox, having made a quick-fire 22, was next to go when he edged a full toss from Mussadaq onto his stumps, leaving Brewood in trouble with 5 key batters back in the pavilion.

At this point, Brewood clearly re-assessed their approach to the game and started to bat with more application, although they failed to build a significant partnership which took the game away from their opponents. Richard Rawlinson was next to go, becoming Mussadaq’s fifth and final wicket when he was trapped lbw for 7. David Wedge and Luke Bird did a good job in rebuilding the innings, using up overs and steadily moving the score along, but once again, Stourbridge broke the partnership before any significant damage was done when Bird was adjudged lbw to Alexander after making 12 from 37 balls. Robbie Byrne continued where Bird had left off, occupying the crease for several overs in an attempt to boost his sides total, with Wedge continuing to look the most impressive of Brewood’s batsmen on the day at the other end.

With Brewood’s total now on 134-7 and with 2 batsmen in, a score of around 160-170 was on the cards, but their last 3 wickets fell away quickly leaving the visitors in control. Byrne was caught behind by Banks off the bowling of Bilal Hassan after making 12 from 57 balls. Wedge’s long vigil ended in the next over when youngster Tom Bird showed his inexperience, pushing the ball to Audy Alexander’s left hand and calling Wedge through for a quick single! With Wedge well short of his ground, his impressive innings of 31 from 71 balls was over. Bird didn’t last much longer, bowled by Hassan for just 2 to leave Bewood all out for a very disappointing 138.

Stourbridge looked like they were going to make short work of their winning target, openers Alex Bingham and Steven Game getting their reply off to a positive start. It was David Wedge, however, continuing his impressive afternoon, who made the first breakthrough, trapping Bingham lbw for 10, although Game and skipper Richard Bradley continued to play positively and move the visitors score along nicely. Game survived a very close run-out decision which possibly unsettled his skipper, as Bradley hit the next delivery from Robbie Byrne straight to Richard Hewitt at mid-on to depart for 14.

This brought Audy Alexander to the crease and his partnership with Game proved to be the match winner, the pair taking Stourbridge’s total past 100 and well within sight of victory. Game eventually departed for 40, giving Byrne his second wicket when he miscued an on drive to Lewis Jelfs in the covers. This sparked a mini-slump for the visitors as they rather fell over the line. Josh Banks was trapped lbw by Wedge for just 2; Matt Bradley fell the same way off the bowling of Robbie Byrne for 6, before Jitesh Patel gave Byrne his fourth wicket when he edged him through to keeper Richard Rawlinson, also for 6. Fortunately for the visitors, Alexander remained in good form throughout all of this, eventually finishing unbeaten on 42 from just 31 balls as he guided his team home with a skilful and positive innings.

All this gave Stourbridge a deserved 20 points, Mussadaq’s excellent 5 wicket haul in the first innings setting up a victory which was confirmed by the impressive innings of both Game and Alexander after tea. Brewood’s late flurry of wickets did, at least, give them another couple of bonus points, but they will be very disappointed at only claiming 3 points from a game where they expected much more. Hopefully, lessons will be learnt from a batting display which provided much entertainment early on, but ultimately failed to supply an adequate base on which to build.

Phil McShane 30/7/14