HALESOWEN suffered the narrowest of defeats after their clash with Bridgnorth went to the last ball of the match.

Bridgnorth number 11 Sam Whitney smashed a six off the final delivery to hand his side a one-wicket success at Cricket Meadow last Saturday.

A patient unbeaten 80 from opening batsman Jamie Harris steered Halesowen to 185 for seven, helped by an unbeaten 40 from Masharraf Shazad, after the visitors had been put into bat by the hosts.

This appeared to be a winning total when Bridgnorth fell to 136-8. However, Tom Weaver's 59 turned the tide before he was dismissed late on.

The challenge fell to home skipper and number 11 batsman Whitney to try and complete the recovery.

He hit the final ball and the only delivery he faced for six to snatch the win away from Hales.

Captain Alexei Kervezee was disappointed but hopeful after the contest. He said: "It wasn’t the easiest of surfaces to bat on and when you get an end to a game like that it always hits you hard. But the way we fought to get a score on the board and also we bowled with some fire to reduce them to a real struggle all in all it gives me great heart.

"It’s obvious to many we need to tinker with a few things to get our batting order in the right shape and I was particularly pleased for Masharraf who set a great example of application and desire but with the ball we are firing well. Next week we take on Bromsgrove with some points to prove and to get ourselves back up the table as soon as possible."

Meanwhile, the club had two centurions last weekend through Mohammed Shauib (118 vs Coventry) in their second XI and Hayden Evans (119 vs Claverley) in the thirds.

Both teams had a good wins with the seconds pulling off a 116 run victory thanks to Archie Reeves leg-spin bagging 4-40. The third XI chased down a lofty 265 to remain top of the table and unbeaten. The fourths found it difficult with a very young side being bowled out for just 64 as Claverley romped home by 10 wickets

The firsts will host Bromsgrove at Seth Somers Park (noon start) as they look to hit back.