Report submitted by Worcestershire County League

Only five matches tossed a coin and made a start on Saturday as the heavy showery downpours encountered across the region throughout last week put paid to nearly all of the scheduled matches in the Worcestershire County League without a ball being bowled.

In the top five divisions who are playing the win/lose/draw format for the first six matches of the season only three matches were able to get underway, with all eventually suffering the same fate.

In the Premier Division after waiting for three and quarter hours Stourport-on-Severn were inserted after losing the toss against Bromyard at Walshes Meadow in a match reduced to twenty eight overs a side. However, after just forty-five minutes play with the home team on 48-1 off 10 overs in the first innings a further heavy downpour put paid to events for the day.

In Division One the match at Hagley Hall between Hagley and visiting Lye suffered a similar fate after the match had been reduced to thirty three overs per side. The home team won the toss and inserted the visitors who, by the time the late afternoon band of heavy rain arrived to curtail the match had amassed a respectable total (152-8 off 25 overs). Jonathan Miles was the pick of the bowlers returning (6-35) in his nine over first innings effort for Hagley.

With every match in Divisions Three & Four abandoned without a ball being bowled Stourbridge 2nd XI in Division Four were the only other team in the top five divisions who managed to start their match., which was reduced to a thirty-eight over a side affair against visiting Eastnor at the War Memorial Ground. However, yet again after just thirty overs of the first innings with visitors Eastnor on (126-3 and Sharafat Hussain 55*) a familiar story occurred as the heavy band of rain moved in from the south west to end affairs late in the afternoon.

In Divisions Five, Six and Seven where the straight win/lose format is played all season only two matches reached the starting line.

In Division Five Claverley’s rain dance paid off as they somehow managed to dodge the heavy showers for long enough to win a rain reduced twenty six over a side match against Malvern at Sandford Park. After losing the toss and being inserted the home team amassed a huge first innings total (241-5) off their twenty-six overs, a target that proved far too many for a Malvern side who never got going with the bat in the second innings as they were eventually bowled out cheaply in the second innings well short of the home team first innings total. This win means that Claverley now enjoy a fifteen point gap at the top of the table

The only other match to make a start on Saturday was played at the Green Field Stourbridge in Division Six where the home team Stourbridge 3rd XI won the toss and elected to bat in match reduced to forty two overs per side.  Again, the match took the same course as most of the others that started as after the home team were dismissed for (119) in the first innings, the Enville 2nd XIs innings was curtailed after just seven overs of the second innings with the score at (17-1).