Historic treble in Black Country Floodlit T20

Himley and Brewood made winning starts as the Black Country Floodlit T20 saw its first hat-trick since the tournament began.

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Brewood's Jamie Lunn produced the historic treble when he ripped through Wolverhampton's top order.

Lunn finished with figures of 4-18 from his three overs, as Wolverhampton were plunged into an early crisis at 20-5.

Captain Simon Lycett's 32 helped hold the innings together as his team managed to bat their 15 overs out and post 116-9.

But it never looked enough and Cameron Fox's 52 off 28 balls helped Brewood to a six-wicket success with 3.3 overs to spare, under the floodlights at Stourbridge Road.

For medium pacer Lunn, it was his second hat-trick in a matter of weeks after he did the same thing in a Birmingham League clash against Attock.

"For it to be the first one in the tournament is nice," said Lunn, from Sedgley. "It was unexpected. When I was running in on the third one I was just thinking 'keep it straight'.

"When he hit it I thought the chance had gone but it was a great catch.

"I'm pleased and it's something I can say I've done. It's a great competition to play in and hopefully we can have a successful week.

Big hitting from skipper Nathan Round helped host club Himley ease to a nine-wicket victory against Stourbridge in the opening clash of the day.

Opening batsman Round batted through the home side's innings and finished unbeaten on 57 as they comfortably chased down 131-9.

Himley made their intentions clear from the start with Round and Greg Wright both hitting sixes in Todd Henderson's opening over.

Their partnership reached 56 before Wright departed for 21, but it was to be the only wicket last year's winners would take.

Round was delighted with his side's display and the way his players performed in all three aspects of the game.

"It's a great start for us and we did really well with our bowling, fielding and batting," said Round.

"Our bowlers did really well taking pace off the ball and we thought their score was just under par, particularly with our batting line-up

"We also aim to take advantage of the powerplays and myself and Greg like to try to hit big and straight early on and we did that.

"It's a perfect start to get a win in the first game but we have to repeat that performance tonight."

Opener Steve Game provided the main highlight of the Stourbridge innings as he produced several fluent strokes before falling one short of a half century.

Game and Bilal Hassan helped Stourbridge recover from 11-2 before the latter fell when he was the first of three run outs.

Game reached 49 before Wright gained revenge soon after being hit over long-on for six.

He got one to spin and wicketkeeper Jack Whittaker reacted quickly with a stumping to not only end Game's knock but also any Stourbridge hopes of posting a challenging total.

The action continues tonight with the second round of group matches, starting at 5.30pm, as Himley take on Brewood and Stourbridge face Wolverhampton.

The final round of matches are held on Wednesday with the final being held on Friday night.

On Thursday there is a game between a Birmingham League XI and a side from the North Staffs & Cheshire League.

Admission is free and parking is available at the ground.

(Pictures by Will Kilpatrick)