IT WAS a mixed bank holiday weekend for Redditch Entaco’s first and second teams as both recorded a win and a loss.
In Birmingham League Division Three, the first team continued their good Bromsgrove Road form with a 12-run rain-affected victory over Lichfield on Saturday before losing by five wickets at promotion hopefuls Rugby on Monday.
On Saturday Redditch batted first and finished on 193-7 thanks to an excellent 59 not out from Marlon Lokenath, ably supported by openers Rizwan Mohammed (36) and Tom Field (29).
In reply Lichfield had 42 overs to reach their target but excellent bowling from the Redditch seamers stemmed the flow of runs.
A fine 56 from Rich Taylor-Tibbott kept the Staffordshire side in the game but a fine spell of off-spin bowling from Field, who took 3-17, put Redditch back in charge and the Kingfishers held on as Lichfield finished on 181-9.
Forty-eight hours later Redditch batted first in overcast conditions and amassed 216-6 in 50 overs with Field leading the way with 73. Ghulam Moyhuddin found form with the bat with 53 and 30 not out from Tim Fitch gave Redditch a total to defend.
However, a fine opening partnership of 140 from Mike Powell (61) and from Raj Chohan (65) put Rugby in charge and they reached their target with five overs to spare.
Redditch Entaco visit Newport on Saturday.
The seconds enjoyed their best batting performance of the season at Barnards Green on Saturday as they prevailed by seven wickets.
The Malvern side scored 250-6 off 45 overs with Andy Wheeler making 105 off just 55 balls. However, Redditch started well in reply and took the game to the home side as Stefan Jagielski (63), Raheem Basharat (50),Steve du Cros (49) and Anis Suleman (38) saw the visitors home in the final over.
Monday’s home fixture with Rugby ended in a six-wicket defeat as Redditch, with a much-changed side from Saturday, struggled to score quickly and could only muster 161-9 off 45 overs with Abdul Jabbar (34) and du Cros (31) the mainstays.
In reply Rugby took just 30 overs to coast home as Suman Barney top-scored with 46.
Sutton Coldfield visit Bromsgrove Road to face the seconds on Saturday.
