Red-hot Hawks off to flying start
C&R Hawks fired out an early warning to their rivals with a power-packed victory at home to Lichfield.
After being denied promotion to Division One of the Birmingham League last season due to ground regulations, skipper Mubeen Rashid has made it clear his side intend to be pushing for the title.
And they got off to a winning start as they overhauled Lichfield’s 239-8 inside 28 overs for the loss of five wickets.
Opener Valeed Butt led the victory charge with 76 from 46 balls while
Iftikhar Khan made 43 and Omar Ali and Lee Evans chipped in with 30s.
Will Davies (57 not out) and Rich Taylor-Tibbott (55) were Lichfield’s main contributors with the bat. Awais Khurshid took 4-40.
Hammerwich came out on the right side of a tense finish in their clash with Cannock.
Chasing Cannock’s 206-9, which was built around 68 from Andrew LeFeaver, Hammerwich were struggling on 127-7.
But a half-century eighth-wicket stand between Craig Jennings (40) and
Alistair Lawrie dragged them back into the contest.
Lawrie (37 not out) then saw his side home with one wicket and three balls to spare despite the efforts of
Afzal Hussain who finished with fine figures of 4-24 from 15 overs.
