LEAMINGTON boosted their hopes of avoiding relegation from Birmingham League Division One with a confidence-boosting 51-run victory over basement boys Wellington.
Wellington won a crucial toss on Saturday and asked Spa to bat.
Leamington’s batting frailties were exposed once again as Steve Brooks (3-32) snapped up two early wickets, leaving the visitors at 19-2.
Skipper Jon Wigley dropped the anchor but found little support from the middle order.
Wendall Wagner (4-24) then took two wickets in as many balls as Leamington looked all at sea with the scoreboard at 62-7.
Fortunately for Wigley he found an ally in Nabeel Ashgar and gradually they hauled Spa back into the match.
Ashgar was the more attacking of the pair, with his 44 featuring two sixes.
The duo added 89 runs before Brooks returned to dismiss Ashgar.
Wagner then removed the last two wickets with Wigley finishing unbeaten on 61 as the visitors were dismissed for 164.
Wellington’s problems with the bat are comparable to Leamington’s and the Shropshire outfit were soon at 8-3, with Wigley snatching two wickets and one for William Mashinge.
Dan Lloyd and Zahid Khan stopped the rot to an extent, taking the score to 56 before Lloyd was pinned LBW by Matt Davison for 21.
Ashgar now came to the fore with the ball, dismissing Wagner and Khan to leave Wellington on 68-6.
With rain in the air, Leamington were ahead of the game and, despite a late flurry from James Flynn (23), Wellington were restricted to 113-8 when the rain arrived in the 34th over.
The match was halted with Leamington winning by virtue of the Duckworth-Lewis scoring system.
Leamington’s seconds string cemented top spot in the Premier Division Second XI table with a comfortable victory over Kenilworth Wardens.
Wardens were hustled out for 177 with Paul Lawrence (4-30) and Tom Warner (3-20) doing the damage with the ball.
In reply Spa eased to 180-6 to claim victory with the help of a quickfire 69 from Sulaiman Hussain.
The thirds remain in the hunt for promotion from Cotswold Hills League Division One following their resounding seven-wicket victory over Warwickshire County Council, while the fourths demolished Stratford Bards by ten wickets in Division Three.
On Saturday, the firsts travel to Halesowen, the seconds entertain Attock, the thirds make the trip to Catherine-de-Barnes and the fourths host Broadway.
