BARNT Green’s season appears to be ending with a whimper as they were skittled out for 53 on a disastrous afternoon at Shrewsbury on Bank Holiday Monday.
After dismissing the hosts for 163, Green would have been hopeful of avoiding a third successive defeat in the Birmingham League Premier Division.
But their batting was not up to the task as Edward Pollock, Matthew Lamb, William Baker and James Taylor all fell for ducks, while Tom Brown top scored with 24.
The demorilising loss followed their four-wicket defeat to West Bromwich Dartmouth at Cherry Hill Road on Saturday.
On that occasion, Green made a respectable 201 after Brown struck 46 and Pollock hit a half century.
But a strong fifth-wicket partnership between opener Kadeer Ali and all-rounder Sarmad Bhatti steered West Bromwich to a comfortable victory.
After winning the toss and electing to field, West Bromwich were confident of making some early in-roads, but Green held their own as they made 57.
But after Darrel Williams fell for 24, the visitors claimed two more wickets. The most notable of those was Tom Brown as he looked well set on 46 before Hafeez Khan got the better of him.
With Lamb also out, Green seemed to be struggling, but fortunately Pollock dug in and reached 52, taking his side on to 133 before he was given his marching orders.
William Baker, Edward Owen and James Taylor had opportunities to impress, but they failed to get into double figures, while Edward Saunders squeezed out a further 14 runs from 27 balls.
These extra runs looked like they were going to have a say in the outcome of the match as Green’s bowling attack wreaked havoc.
Mohammed Sajid and Brinder Phagura both fell for ducks before Edward Owen made his second catch of the afternoon to dismiss Ruki De Silva (3).
The flurry of wickets left West Bromwich on 23-3, but the away side responded superbly, with Kadeer and Bhatti producing brilliant spells of batting.
The pair both reached their half centuries and they looked set to secure their side victory as they moved on to 196. The parntership was finally broken as Andrew Sutton bowled Bhatti before dispatching Latif Ahmed, who failed to get off the mark.
Shahzeb Raja also fell for a duck after being trapped LBW by Brown, but this only delayed the inevitable and just a few balls later Hafeez scored the remaining run.
