MOSELEY Cricket Club captain Fred Eburah said his side will respond from their losing start to the season, after falling to a six-wicket defeat away to Dorridge in the Birmingham & District Premier Division on Saturday.
The 159 all-out total from the visitors was promptly dealt with by Dorridge, who claimed victory in the space of just 25 overs.
Eburah said the Griffs start to the season was nothing short of disappointing, but sees no reason to panic just yet.
“It was a disappointing start in all aspects of the game, but it’s a performance that we know doesn’t reflect the true capabilities of the team – there’s certainly no reason to panic this early in the season.
“We knew that 159 was below par, and our batting line-up will be working hard to ensure we provide ourselves with a platform to push for more competitive scores in future matches.
“That said, Ali looked in excellent form and batted well with the tail to ensure we had something to bowl at.
He viewed Moseley’s bowling as an area for improvement, and believes that aspect of their play contributed to the defeat.
“With the ball, we bowled a few too many loose deliveries early on, which took pressure off their top order and from there it was a reasonably routine chase for them.
“We are not a million miles away though, and by working on a couple of simple things over the week, we’ll be ready to go again next Saturday and look to put that one behind us.”
Hosts Dorridge won the toss and decided to field, and were subject to some strong batting from the opening pair of Rob Yates and Bhavik Patel.
But having led 31-0, the Moseley wickets quickly began to tumble, and slumped to an 82 runs for six lead.
Some reprieve was found when the partnership of Ben Griffin and Ali Awan – who hit 35 – took the visitors to 117 runs, before Griffin fell.
A. Awan and Usman Awan helped build Moseley’s lead to 147, before the host’s James Driscoll took the final two wickets to keep Moseley’s total down to 159 from 47.3 overs.
Dorridge had no trouble in surpassing Moseley’s total, and took 162 from 25 overs, losing only four wickets.
David Ball, on 47 from 44 balls, and Barry Forrester-Smith, on 44 runs (not out), were the top-ranking partnership with 76 for the hosts.
Moseley look to bounce back at the first opportunity when welcoming Kenilworth Wardens for the first home game of the season at Scorer’s Cricket Ground on Saturday (12pm).
