WARWICK Firsts remain unbeaten and at the top of Warwickshire League Division Four after a five-wicket win over fellow promoted side Massey Ferguson.
Captain Rajan Bhatti lost the toss again on what looked a good wicket and unsurprisingly Massey Ferguson chose to bat.
Warwick knew they would have to continue their high standards with the ball and in the field on a hot Saturday afternoon.
Although the ever reliable Joshua Osborne didn’t pick up a wicket in his opening spell, quick bowler Rajan Bhatti (2-29) got the breakthrough with a quick yorker to remove Mubashir Nawaz (4).
Wickets seemed hard to come for Warwick but runs were drying up for the visitors especially when the experienced veteran Richard Rudnicki came into the attack.
Rudnicki bowled brilliantly and was rewarded with the wickets of Luke Rose (9) and Nabeel Safdar (31 off 93 balls) to finish with superb figures of 12-5-15-2.
Spinners Anil Lohan (2-30) and Joseph Evans (0-32) kept the pressure on and the scoring rate down.
Massey Ferguson finished their innings on 136-6 from their 50 overs.
Youngster Adam Southorn opened the batting with Adrian Passey and despite two early boundaries, Passey was bowled for eight from as many deliveries.
He was soon followed back to the pavilion by Shubhayan Chandra (5) which brought Warwick University student James Sood to the crease.
Sood batted in his typical brutal fashion and built a quick 46-run partnership with Southorn before the latter fell for 17.
Disaster struck as James Sood fell two balls later for 33 and soon Rajan Bhatti (4) was bowled to leave Warwick 83-5 needing another 54 to win.
In-form Tazik Sharma joined Umair Mushtaq to the crease and despite tight bowling from Massey Ferguson, it was this pair which took Warwick to victory.
Young Mushtaq showed maturity beyond his years as he hit 29 off 83 balls to accompany Tazik’s unusually patient innings of 30 off 54 balls as both batsmen remained not out and guide Warwick home with ten overs to spare.
Warwick travel to Southam on Saturday.
WARWICK Seconds continued their winning streak with a five-wicket win away at Stockingford to move top of Warwickshire League Division Eight East.
A good all round team performance was capped off by a match-winning unbeaten century partnership between Tom Cox (60 not out) and Vishal Sharma (32no) who brought the team home.
Warwick were asked to bowl first on what seemed a fairly decent pitch, and wickets were hard to come by early on until 15-year-old George Charzcun took his first wicket for the team on debut in the tenth over.
Kieren Evans (40) provided some big hitting in the middle overs, however, some good catching and ground fielding allowed Warwick to keep the score to a reasonable level, until a burst of wickets from Vishal Sharma (3-7) and Abishek Sharma (4-60) held Stockingford to a total of 183-9 from their 45 overs.
Warwick struggled in slow conditions as they lost both openers relatively early, but a half century partnership between Steven Smith (22) and Michael Hope (21) built a platform before Warwick lost three quick wickets to put the game in the balance at 82-5.
This brought together Vishal Sharma and Tom Cox, who through a combination of watchful batting and big hitting took Warwick to victory with two overs to spare.
Warwick host Fillongley Seconds on Saturday.
WARWICK Thirds slumped to a 70-run defeat to Leek Wooton Seconds in a top-of-the-table clash in Cotswold Hills League Division Five.
Leek Wootton won the toss and elected to bat on what looked to be good track and the runs came quickly.
There was an opening stand of 72 in 15 overs when Scott Jones (24) fell to the bowling of Yogesh Rajanandam.
Opening partner Phil Robinson could only look on as the pacey Rajanandam found his line and picked up two further quick wickets.
At 108-3 it looked as if Warwick had clawed a way back into the innings.
Terrance Malcolm then joined Robinson at the wicket and the two hard hitters accelerated the score once more.
Robinson amassed 61 before being bowled by Paul Coleman while Malcolm fell for 89 on the last ball of the innings which closed 250-7.
Rajanandam’s 3-36 and Steve Webb 2-59 did the damage with the ball for Warwick.
Needing close on a run-a-ball for victory Warwick’s reply got off to a poor slow start as they were reduced to 23-3 off the first ten overs.
Paul Coleman (23), Prashantha Panja Narasimha (45) and Danny Robbins (54) added some respectability to the total as Warwick’s innings eventually closed on 180-7 off 45 overs.
