HIMLEY'S disappointing start to the season continued as they lost to Walmley last Saturday.

A middle order collapse saw them lose by five wickets in the Birmingham Premier League contest after being put into bat.

Despite a reasonable start from opener Tom Kohler-Cadmore, who went on to make 49, Himley lost the next six wickets cheaply as all batsmen failed to make double figures.

Only 26 from Nick Harrison offered any resistance as the visitors were bowled out for 131.

Shozair Ali was the pick of Walmley's bowling attack as he claimed four wickets for just 18 runs.

Despite Himley striking early to removed Chris Whittock, the partnership of Daniel Chaudhry and Oli Hairs took the game away from them.

Chaudhry finished not out for 24 runs as he played a patient innings to allow Hairs to knock 66 of 43 balls.

Walmley made the required target in 27 overs for the loss of five wickets.

Himley captain Greg Wright was unhappy with his side's performance.

He said: "It was very disappointing. We were poor and didn't get much right at all. We did okay in spells but found the wet conditions difficult and simply didn't play well enough.

"The middle order collapsed due to some poor decision making and we didn't recover from that.

"We were sluggish in the field and poor with the ball. We need to improve quickly."

The Stourbridge Road side will now travel to take on Brockhampton this Saturday as they look to pick up a much-needed victory.

"We have beaten them all four times we have played them since they came into the league so will take heart from that ahead of this weekend," added Wright.

"Overall, we need to respond. It has been a disappointing start but there have been a number of contributing factors, such as not winning many tosses and suffering some key injuries.

"However, we can't look to those reasons anymore and need to improve from now on.

"Individuals need to perform and start to get scores with the bat and produce the bowling spells they are capable of.

"There is no need to panic at the moment but I want a lot more from the side."

Meanwhile, in the division three of the Worcestershire County League, second-placed Netherton failed to build on their good start to the campaign when narrowly losing out at home to Stourport. They lost by just two runs when trying to chase down 177.