HALESOWEN skipper Faisal Shahid admitted he was frustrated by the resistance of neighbours Stourbridge after seeing the teams draw at the weekend following stubborn batting from the opposition tailenders.

A stunning innings of 93 from just 53 balls from wicketkeeper Wes Griffiths proved to be in vain as the visitors just held on with some stubborn batting.

Shahid said: “It was a good all round effort from the boys.

“Wes single-handedly got us to a total we looked nowhere like achieving and his batting this year has been fantastic.

“In the field, we dropped a chances or two but the bowlers were able to pick up wickets at vital times to keep us in charge.

“However, credit must be given to the last Stourbridge pair who hung on for the draw at the end.”

After losing the toss, the home side were put into bat by Stourbridge and it was the skipper who got the innings off to a steady start with youngster Jujhar Johal.

The opening partnership was worth 44 when Shahid was first out for 28 after getting a leading edge to the bowling of Stour’s young seamer Zain Ul Hassan.

Johal was happy to play the anchor role until he was dismissed for 11, quickly followed by overseas star Tarryck Gabriel (1) who was beaten in the flight by a delivery from his Stourbridge and St. Lucian counterpart Audy Alexander.

Former Brockhampton duo Ben Stebbings and Will Barrett moved the total into three figures before Stebbings (36) was out to a fine catch on the boundary by Ul Hassan off the bowling of spinner James Wood.

That set the scene for Griffiths to enter and plunder the Stourbridge bowling in one of the most aggressive displays of hitting seen at Seth Somers Park in years.

After losing the wicket of Barrett (32), Griffiths' innings, which contained seven sixes and seven fours, single handily took Hales to a total of 241-8 and maximum batting points off their allotted 55 overs when at one stage it looked like anything over 200 would have been a bonus.

Alex Bingham and Steve Game got the Stourbridge innings got off to a steady start until Bingham (17) was caught at short cover off the bowling of Faisal Shahid with the score on 37.

Opening partner Game (23) quickly followed when caught behind by Griffiths again off the bowling of Shahid who went on the bowl through his 17 overs to return figures of 3-35.

With Alexander still at the crease, Stourbridge were still in the hunt but when he was controversially given run out for 21 after a fine throw into the keeper by Johal, the game looked to turned in favour of the home side.

The wickets continued to fall at regular intervals, but, with the spin duo of Gabriel and Brooker claiming three and two respectively. However, try as they might, Halesowen were unable to separate the final pair of Ali and Winders who batted out the remaining overs to hold on for an unlikely draw. Halesowen 18 points, Stourbridge 6 points.

A depleted second XI lost top spot with defeat to Walsall and were set 200 by the home side who were put in by ‘Owen skipper Adam Hawker. Young spinner Musharraf Shazad was the pick of the bowlers bagging figures of 3-49 from 15 overs. In response Halesowen were dismissed for just 58 to lose top spot in the league table.

Saturday sees both teams in action against Shifnal, with the firsts team away travelling for a (noon start).