CRICKET: SOLIHULL Blossomfield made a winning start to life back in Warwickshire League Division One thanks to a seven-wicket victory away to Four Oaks Saints.
The hosts won the toss on a beautiful spring day and opted to bat first but despite some tight bowling early on, Bloss were unable to pick up wickets at regular intervals.
In fact when the break through did arrive it was through a run out courtesy of an impressive dive & throw from Edward Thompson at gully. Henderson (37) and A Hipkiss (42) then laid the foundations for the hosts to press on and set a big score.
Blossomfield spin bowlers Chris Kinman (2 for 50) and Naveed Bashir (1 for 20) made sure the game never got away from their side in the middle overs & it was left to opening bowler Harvey Satterthwaite (3-36) to return to clean up the tail. Four Oaks eventually finished on 233-10 from 49 overs.
The Blossomfield reply got off to a shaky start. Bashir was dismissed in the 2nd over for 1 & captain Ben Seifas was to follow shortly after, for a brisk 22. Edward Thompson & Nik Patel were left with the task of steadying the ship, but runs continued to flow freely. Their partnership had reached 44 when Patel was unfortunately out caught behind, with the wicket keeper appearing to catch the ball between his legs. 75-3. Sheraz Khan then joined Thompson in the middle, & he was handed a lifeline when he was put down at cover off his first delivery. However he didn’t allow this to play on his mind as his next 3 deliveries yielded 14 runs. The pair continued to play positively in spite of the more defensive fields set by the hosts & very quickly turned the game strongly in Blossomfield’s favour. Both players reached 50’s & by which time Four Oaks had run out of steam, The 7 wicket victory was sealed when Thompson swept to the fence for 67 not out. Khan was not out on 80 & their partnership remained undefeated for 160 runs.
Bloss visit Ambleside on Saturday.
