BOWLER Dashawn Norville marked his Burghill, Tillington and Weobley debut by taking five wickets in their Worcestershire County League Division One opener against Colwall.
It took a herculean effort to get the game on at the PAF Cricket Ground thanks to the ground staff.
On a cold, cloudy and blustery day, Burghill captain Barney Morgan won the toss and invited Colwall to bat. Due to a delayed start, the game was reduced to a 40 over affair.
The Burgs made early inroads into the Colwall top order and had them reeling at 41-5.
But what started as a dogged, and then flourished into a scintillating partnership of 146, between Jack Collins (107) and Amaan Edavalath (43), saw Colwall fight back to take the score to 187-5.
Collins, a talented Kiwi, showed his class with a stylish hundred, which included 10 fours and 7 sixes.
He was ably assisted by Edavalath, who played the sheet anchor role to perfection.
But when Collins holed out in the deep, the momentum was lost and Colwall finished on 221-8 off their 40 overs.
Norville, making his debut for the Burgs, ran amok early in the Colwall innings and finished with 5 for 34 off 7 overs.
His pace was too much for the Colwall top order. But the Barbadian was feeling the cold, even with six layers of clothing and hand warmers.
When the weather improves and wickets get harder, Collins will prove a handful for Division One batsmen.
Barney Morgan and Afaq Khalid both bowled eight-over unchanged spells for 32 and 35 respectively. Sixteen-year-old, Archie Stevenson sent down seven overs for 33. They will be the bedrock of the Burghill attack in the middle overs this season.
After nearly four years away from cricket, glove-man Jake Hutson had a tidy time behind the stumps.
Hutson showed flashes of his brilliance on occasions and will put a lot of pressure on batsmen when he is standing up to the quicks.
Chasing the target, Burghill got off to a flyer with Rhodri Jones (37), Jake Hutson (20) and Barney Morgan (20) all playing positively. After 12 overs, at 81-2, it looked like a walk in the park.
But a middle order wobble including a couple of run-outs brought Colwall back into the game.
But the tail wagged and with Sarmad (38 not out) at the other end, the Burgs ran out winners by three wickets.
Young Archie Stevenson, with 21 not out at the end is turning into an outstanding all round cricketer.
The firsts are on the road next Saturday at Himley, who also won yesterday.
In the reverse game Colwall seconds ran out 138-run winners against Burghill, Tillington and Weobley seconds in their Worcestershire County League Division Six clash.
Colwall were put into bat and set a formidable total of 261-5 – thanks largely to an unbeaten century from opener Bruno Recordon, while Tom Hall hit 67.
In response Burghill were reduced to 51-5 before being bowled out for 123, with Clive Chadhani top scoring with 30.
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