HALESOWEN'S inconsistent start to the season continued as they lost at Leamington last Saturday.

Hales have now won two, lost three and had one game abandoned of their first six games.

Jamie Harris (89) and Masharraf Shazad (45 not out) saw them to 203-7 at Leamington but William Masinghe (70), Waqar Ahmed (49) and Sulaiman Hussein (48 not out) put the hosts into a strong position as they achieved a four wicket win with nearly four overs remaining.

Eddie Rhodes took 3-49 for Halesowen but they slip back into mid-table while Leamington move up to fourth.

Captain Alexei Kervezee said: "We were probably 20-30 runs light on that surface and in the end that’s what’s cost us.

"Our bowlers worked really hard to get us in with a shout. We will be looking at our batting line-up this week to see where we are with it as we need shore up a few holes in order to be more consistent in this division.

"We are still playing well for most of the game but we just need to get that final piece of the jigsaw right."

Meanwhile, the 2nd and 3rd XI stormed to comprehensive wins against West Bromwich Dartmouth and Hallow Taverners respectively.

In the 2nd XI game, Mohammed Shauib stole the show with 75 supported by Scott Jones (43) and Mark Hutchinson (27*) as the home team totalled 213-6 off their 50 overs. In reply Dartmouth came up short thanks to Charlie Greening’s 6-31 in 15 overs as they were reduced to 118 all out. Hassan Akram with 3-21 also mopped up the tail.

The third XI remain top of their division thanks to Danyaal Ahmed’s 4-23 and Siddesh Chavan’s 64 backed up by Richard Cox (35*) to win by five wickets chasing down 155 in even time. The 4th XI remain stuck to the bottom of the division after a 79 run defeat to Hallow despite 13-year-old Reyaan Ahmed taking 3-3.

Halesowen's firsts will now welcome Shifnal to Seth Somers Park this Saturday (noon start).

The seconds got to Walsall, the thirds are at West malvern and the fourths play West Malvern seconds at Earls High (1pm).