HALESOWEN dug deep after an early batting collapse to salvage something from their clash with Barnards Green.

The game was the only draw of the day in both divisions of the Birmingham League, where the home side finished a long way behind but took a losing draw at Seth Somers Park.

Phil Harris played a leading role for Barnards Green. With the bat, he scored 78 in a total of 251-5 for the visitors, after Worcestershire all-rounder George Rhodes hit an even 100.

Harris (3 for 36) then made early inroads into the Halesowen innings, as they slumped to 12-4 before stout resistance from Masharraf Shazad (41 not out), Eddie Rhodes (41) and Wes Griffiths (33) saw them to 169-8 on completion of their 55 overs.

Meanwhile, the second XI stormed home with a comfortable seven-wicket win thanks to runs from Harry Kitchen (62*) Joe Tromans (50) and Hayden Evans (27).

Earlier Charlie Greenings’ 3-29 and Scott Jones 3-34 kept Astwood Bank at bay as they struggled to 199-8. In reply, Hales past the total with 10 overs remaining to secure fourth position coming up to the half way mark in the season.

The third XI were undone by Alvechurch 1st XI with James Knowles (2-48) Danny Ahmed (2-27) and Sam Butt (2-25) being the main wicket takers as the Church wracked up 217-7.

In reply, John Aston (44) and Alex Jordan (23) were the only batsman who made a decent start as the remainder couldn’t find a way to build partnerships to chase down the required runs finishing 53 short with five overs remaining. The team remain rooted at the bottom of the table with much work to do.

Finally, the fourth team continued their fine form with an eight-wicket win over Cookhill.

Commenting on the first XI performance, captain Alexei Kervezee said: "Once again we were decent in patches but didn’t take our opportunities when they came.

"In reality they got 250, which was way more than reasonable and then in the chase we find ourselves with four batters out in the first 20 minutes. You can't win matches with no base to play from at the top of the order.

"Credit to some of the players lower down for keeping us in the game and allowing us to walk away with the draw, but we really need to be better at the front end of our innings to give ourselves any decent chance of playing winning cricket."

The women's team also won with a resounding victory over Droitwich in the Worcestershire League Division Two match.

Matches this week include the return of men's county cricket to Seth Somers Park as well as the usual league action.

Worcestershire CCC second XI will take on Derbyshire CCC seconds for three days from June 26.

Hales firsts got to Brockhampton this Saturday, the seconds welcome Brockhampton seconds, the thirds go to Bewdley and the fourths host Cookley at Earls.