Staffordshire crash to a home reverse against Wiltshire

Having won their opening group clash against Wales, they followed it up with a disappointing defeat at Smethwick Cricket Club.

Without the injured in-form Nils Priestley, which meant a county debut for youngster Callum Leese, the hosts won the toss and elected to bat first but were quickly in trouble as they lost their first three wickets with just 24 runs on the board after 11 overs.

Michael Hill and Matthew Morris set about rebuilding the innings against a hostile attack led by left-arm paceman Josh Croom and some fine fielding. The pair started slowly before starting to press the accelerator pedal but having put together a fourth-wicket partnership of 101, Hill was adjudged lbw for 63.

Morris remained at the crease but wickets fell steadily at the other end and he was 71 not out as the home side were bowled out for 214 with two balls left of their 50 over allocation. Croom finished with excellent figures of five for 32 from his 10 overs.

Wiltshire made a positive start before losing their first wicket on 30 with wicketkeeper Callum Hawkins taking a smart catch off the bowling of Liam Hurt. Runs continued to flow and despite losing their second wicket on 82 and a third on 103, Wiltshire continued their domination of the game and an unbroken fourth-wicket partnership of 114 between Tom Cullen (67 not out) and Ben Draper (57 not out) saw them reach their victory target with six overs to spare.

Staffordshire now face Dorset in their next fixture.