CRICKET: SOLIHULL Muncipal came out on top of their Warwickshire Premier League battle with Hampton & Solihull at Brick Kiln Lane.
Batting first, the home side started brightly as Mike Rowley and Jamie Bissett put on 38 for the first wicket before Gavin Heath had Rowley caught at mid-off for 24.
Joe Jarema (39) and Bissett added 81 for the second wicket, before the former departed in the over following the drinks break, as Mike Palmer (2-45) was rewarded for a probing spell.
Bissett fell shortly after for a well-made 67 to Faisal Iqbal (3-53) and, with wickets in hand, Municipal were able to play some expansive strokes.
Captain Alex Roslyn (57) and Jonathan Stanley (53) in particular targeted the leg side boundaries, and a quickfire 20 from Nathan Boyce pushed the total up to 293 for 6 before Municipal closed their innings.
The H&S reply started disastrously as Dan Christopher was trapped LBW by Roslyn (1-28) in the third over, before Gurpal Dahele (2-36) accounted for the wickets of Mark James (15) and Chris Hughes (21).
Johangir Khan (45) provided resistance at number three.
However at the other end wickets continued to fall as Jamie Roslyn (4-28) and a wicket apiece for Steve Hands and Jonathan Stanley saw the H&S middle and lower order struggle.
Some brief respite came with a 10th wicket stand between Palmer and Arslan Amin, before the final wicket fell with H&S all out for 139.
After the game, a disappointed H&S captain Tim Keyte, said: “Today was always going to be a tough game for us against a Solihull Municipal side who are full of confidence at the top of the table. “Nevertheless it’s disappointing to collapse like we did – we need to show a little more resilience and become tough to beat in situations where we’re behind the game.
“Next week is a big game for us against Studley and we’ll need to bounce back accordingly.”
