NOT for the first time this season Astwood Bank suffered frustration with the weather as Saturday’s match against Pershore was abandoned with Steve Adshead’s side on the brink of victory, but the skipper is looking at the positives as his in-form side continue to impress.
The Bank are unbeaten in seven Birmingham League Division Three matches including five victories and only the rain denied them a win against fellow high-flyers Pershore at Sambourne Lane.
A deluge of rain arrived with the hosts 45-2 off 16.4 overs and little more than three overs away from a result as they replied to the south Worcestershire side’s 93 all out.
As it was, Bank had to settle for just nine points for their efforts and missed out on moving top of the pile as superb bowling from Dan Taylor (4-15) and Mike Desmond (3-8) went largely unrewarded.
However, Adshead remained calm despite the obvious frustrations and believes his side will earn their rewards over the course of the season if they maintain this level of form.
“It is annoying when the rain costs you points and it’s not the first time this season we’ve been saying if, but and maybe, etc, but we can’t control that,” said the captain.
“All we can control is the cricket we play and the fact is we are playing some good stuff. We are doing a lot of things right and can take a lot of confidence from our performance levels.
“We would have gone top of the table if we’d been able to complete victory on Saturday and that’s encouraging for us. There’s a lot of good cricketers around in this division but we’ve got our fair share of our own here.”
Third placed Bank, who trail new leaders Fordhouses by just four points following the Wolverhampton’s side’s eight-wicket thumping of previous leaders Streetly, head to Worfield on Saturday and Adshead is delighted with his side’s endeavours as they prepare for another important match.
“Our bowling has been the backbone of our success in recent years in terms of winning promotion into and then remaining in the Birmingham League said,” said the 36-year-old.
“We have real strength in depth with our bowling, particularly our spinners, as Dan Taylor is having a fantastic year and Andrzej Jagielski is so consistently good. I don’t think Dan has conceded a boundary in 30-odd overs, which is fantastic.
“Tom Harris is also having a great year averaging around 13 and it was great to see Mike Desmond bowl so well on Saturday. We also have Dan Thomas set to play for the 2nds this weekend having been injured since the opening weekend of the season so things are looking really bright.
“Scores are certainly lower in the Birmingham League than in the Worcestershire League because of the quality of bowling.
“We are finding that if we score 200 or more we generally win the game, so we need perhaps two of our top six or seven to score 60 or 70 in a match and then, with the bowling attack we have, that will always give us a good chance of victory.”
ASTWOOD BANK CC will be hosting cricket coaching courses throughout the second half of the summer.
The week-long sessions are open to boys and girls aged between five and 16 and begin on July 25 and run until September 2 from 10am to 4pm each day.
There are discounts available for multiple session purchases but the basic cost is £20 per day and activities include coaching, fun games and matches.
For more details call Pete Alexander on 07855 887563, e-mail [email protected] or visit ausported.com.
