LOSING the toss played a significant part when Kidderminster Victoria CC went down by six wickets at Moseley in the Birmingham and District League Premier Division on Saturday.

Wet conditions delayed the start for over three hours, resulting in a shortened match of 31 overs per side.

Under the circumstances it was imperative to win the toss, but KVCC lost it and the home side were in control from that point after putting them in to bat.

Having lost the sharpness and edge that the side had only a few weeks ago, KVCC will now need to rediscover some of that balance if they are to avoid being dragged into the battle for survival at the bottom of the table.

Their poor run of form continued when they struggled to make progress against a tight opening Moseley attack.

The first wicket fell at 44, when Ted Baylis was caught for 16, but this was in the 14th over and the impetus for the innings had been established.

Neil Pinner was then caught off a leading edge from the first ball he faced and Moseley were well on top.

Craig Wood joined Josh Knappett and they built the most significant stand of the innings. They had put on 66 runs when Knappett was caught for an excellent 63, which saw him bat for 107 minutes and face 80 balls.

Unfortunately by this time the innings had reached the 26th of its 31 overs and there was a furious attempt by the following batsmen to raise the run-rate in what overs remained.

But with the notable exception of Jonathan Wright, they failed. The skipper hit a commendable 17 in 13 balls, but the innings closed at a disappointing 134-7.

The game was won and lost very quickly when Moseley batted.

While it had taken KVCC 16 overs to reach 50, Moseley managed it in just seven, with Warwickshire’s Ian Westwood, returning from injury, in a very aggressive mood.

When he was caught on the boundary by Siwicki from the bowling of Arfan Khan, he had scored 61 runs in 62 minutes as Moseley had powered to 95 by this point.

The run-rate slowed significantly when Mark Mansell came on to bowl and he had all the Moseley batsmen in some trouble, taking 1-19 in his seven overs.

The damage was well done by then, however, and Moseley completed reached 135-4 and a comfortable victory by six wickets with six overs to spare.

Khan took two wickets and Mario Saliwa one.