Bowlers sweat in soaring Beacon

Wednesday 30th July 2008, 6:22AM BST.

wicket_keeper.jpgBeacon wasn’t the place to be a bowler on Saturday as the batsmen made hay while the sun shone.

Nearly 600 hundred runs were plundered, as the home side bagged a winning draw from their clash with Old Wulfs Tettenhall.

Beacon piled up a formidable 306-4, with Roger Fildes hitting a league best 139 not out and Andy Green 81.

Old Wulfs made a spirited reply and where pushing for victory, until the introduction of spinner Ben Robinson (3-48) checked their progress, with the visitors finishing on 261-8.

Beacon skipper Craig Jones said: “It was a really good batting track and not a day for the bowlers.

“Roger batted superbly and I was more than pleased with out total. I was a touch worried at one stage because Old Wulfs were going quite well.

“I don’t think anyone was going to bowl anyone out on that strip.”

Beacon are hit by availability problems for Saturday’s clash with Penkridge with Jones, John Sweet, Mike Dodunski and are all missing from the line-up.

Opening bowler Rizwan Hussain claimed five wickets for Cannock and Rugeley as they stayed in touch with the title race in a high-scoring win over Wednesbury.

Hussain took 5-43 but his side still had to score 232-6 to claim victory.

They reached their target with captain Aqil Ahmed hitting 80. Mohammed Mahboob scored 47 and shared in a fourth-wicket stand of 150 with his skipper.

Hammerwich spinner Mohammed Zubair claimed a five-wicket haul as his side skittled Bloxwich fo 95 en route to an eight-wicket win. Zubair took 5-20 in 11 overs, with Rob Swanwick picking up 3-16.

Bloxwich sniffed the chance of an unlikely win when they reduced their opponents to 16-2. That brought together Neil Smytheman (42) and Phil Russell (39 not out), who saw their side home.

Hammerwich captain Brian Fisher is hoping his team can use the win as a springboard to improved results in the second half of the season, to lift them away from the relegation scrap.

He said: “We should be in the group of teams in the middle of the league.

“After this many games the table doesn’t lie and we haven’t played well enough often enough.”



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