SKIPPER Mark Evenson believes that the Boars can begin a strong run of form, if they can follow up last weekend’s success at Brockhampton against Oswestry on Saturday (noon).
Bromsgrove beat basement-side Brockhampton’s 121-9 total in the 38th over, much in part to a strong first innings bowling display and a match-winning partnership of 53 between Matthew Russell (29 not out) and Deon Patel (21 not out).
It was their third win of the campaign so far, lifting them further away from the relegation picture and giving them room to look higher up the Birmingham & District Premier Division Two table.
Evenson views Saturday’s game as another stepping stone to get Bromsgrove where they want to be, and says the Boars can take plenty of confidence from their most recent victory.
“We’re under no illusion that we’ll probably be put into bat first with the conditions, we’ll have to bat with patience,” he said.
“But we’re buoyant after the Brockhampton win, and if we can get another positive result, we could head into a key window or games where good results will help us up the league.”
The travelling Boars won the toss and decided to field first in Herefordshire, a decision that proved just as the Bromsgrove bowlers ran riot to claim a number of wickets between them.
The first dismissal came from the very first delivery bowled by Gareth Williams, with Alex Milton making the catch to end Adam Hewlett’s brief stint at the bat.
In all, Williams took three wickets for 22 runs conceded, and notched a second dismissal of the day when his delivery towards Daryl Mitchell was caught by Evenson to make it 30-2.
Param Uppal (8) was next to go when sending his shot into the of Tom Green, again bowled by Williams, followed by the opening wicket from Evenson (2-22) to remove Oliver Rogoff (29) from the batting order – courtesy of another Milton catch.
A trio of wickets just before the 100 run mark proved decisive, as Glen Harrhy (9) was stumped by wicket keeper Milton, followed by Tom Austwick’s (17) dismissal for an lbw from Evenson, and an Alex Wilkinson take from Max Foster (0).
It left Brockhampton standing precariously on 95-7, who, despite losing two further wickets in Charlie Scott (6) and Charlie Williams (1), were able to see out their 42 overs.
Ashley Newfield took an impressive 4-25 towards the back end of Brockhampton’s innings, meaning he becomes the leading bowler for the Boars with 15 wickets this season.
He then formed an opening partnership of 39 with Jayden Levitt (30), who was the first to go, before then being dismissed himself at 41-2 after hitting six.
Milton (9) was sent to the pavilion for an lbw from Uppal’s (3-34) delivery, while Ryan Pedley managed 14 before finishing his batting stint at 70-4.
From there, Russell and Patel guided the Boars towards a 123-4 total and a much-needed 20 points on the board.
Evenson said the boost given to his side is enormous, and was pleased to be able to get the game played in the first place – considering the number of matches that were called off.
“We’re not at the stage where matches are all a must-win yet, but equally we don’t want to miss out on points against teams down the bottom.
“The game could have been potentially called off, but when we got there the sun started to become visible and the wicket was dry, so to get the game played and to bowl as well as we did was very pleasing.”
He emphasised the importance of his teammates chipping in with wickets, and said it goes a long way to help set the team up for a positive result.
“The whole way through we bowled well and formed a number of partnerships, it’s always important to help each other,” said Evenson.
“Gareth and Ashley are experienced campaigners, we mopped up a lot of wickets at the end, so it was a very pleasing return for us.”
“It wasn’t easy (going into bat) with the conditions, but we were comfortable going into the final three or four overs.”
