KIDDERMINSTER Victoria CC captain Jonathan Wright believes that he and his team must learn from the mistakes they made in Saturday's loss to Wolverhampton.

The team's hopes of a winning start to the Birmingham and District League Premier Division were dashed as they were unable to chase a small total and lost by 30 runs in the Black Country (read report).

Wright pin-pointed his decision to bowl first on a difficult wicket, which made it hard for his team to chase down the runs, and their batting collapse as the main reasons why they tasted defeat.

"I made a mistake because I decided to bowl first on a wicket that was always going to deteriorate," said the captain.

"I will have to be more flexible about whether we bat first or not.

"We also need to be tougher with the bat. A few of us got out to good balls but some went too easily, so we need to be more resilient."

Despite the disappointing result the captain was pleased with the team's bowling attack of Ted Baylis, Mark Mansell and new additions Arfan Khan and Mario Saliwa, who restricted Wolverhampton to 142-9.

Wright said: "We bowled very well as a team. The two new boys also came in and looked impressive, so I was very pleased with that.

"Unfortunately the wicket was under-prepared because of the wet weather and we couldn't settle on it.

"We lost a few wickets, but after a slow start we looked capable of winning the game but we faded.

"We have to be better on poor wickets. We play well on good surfaces but half the wickets in the division aren't that great and we need to be better on them."

Despite the defeat Kidderminster will be aiming to bounce back when they welcome Walmley to Chester Road on Saturday (1pm start).

Wright believes that this may be the one of the toughest seasons yet in the Premier Division.

"I think this is going to be the closest Premier Division for some time because there are so many evenly matched sides," commented the captain.

"What's important is that we bounce back from defeat. We'll have a good wicket at home and I would like to think we can win the game."

Saturday will also be the Kidderminster Victoria fans' first chance to see South African seam-bowler Saliwa in action at home.

Despite arriving in Kidderminster a day before the Wolverhampton game, he showed his capability with a pacey performance which bagged him two wickets.

Wright said: "Mario settled into the side very quickly and bowled well considering he only made it to Kidderminster on Friday morning and hadn't slept properly for two nights.

"Despite that he bowled with pace and looks very fit so he can play for long spells."

n The team have been drawn against Cheltenham in the second regional round of the Cockspur National Knockout Cup in Gloucestershire on Sunday, May 18.

n Worcestershire are tackling Loughborough University at Chester Road in a three-day game until Friday.