WARWICK ended the Warwickshire League Division Five season on a disappointing note as they lost at home to Moseley’s third team and subsequently promotion in a rain affected match at Hampton Road on Saturday.
It was a fantastic all-round club effort to get the game on in the first place as Warwick head groundsman Paul Finch and Jim Figgitt worked tirelessly to ensure that the pitch and square were ready to play once the rain subsided.
Moseley won the toss and elected to bat, and young opener Daniel Lane (57) in particular came out of the blocks hard.
Warwick were affected by injuries to opening bowlers Tom Austin (0 for 21) and Rajan Bhatti (1 for 39), meaning that the bulk of the overs were spread between medium pacers Warren (2 for 27), Rudnicki (2 for 30) and Hope (1 for 29) as Warwick restricted Moseley to 169 for 7 off their allotted 34 overs.
At this point in the match, the maths was fairly simple – Warwick needed just 170 to win at exactly five runs an over in order to win and guarantee promotion.
Warwick started relatively well as opener Adrian Passey (34) hit six boundaries however top order batsmen Haley, Bhatti, Passey and Warren departed in quick succession to leave Warwick 57 for 4.
Michael Hope and John Eddon then began to form a promising partnership, however when Eddon (21) was dismissed to leave the score 103 for 5, Warwick’s lower order were never really at the races as young spinner Zac Saleem claimed 4 for 28.
Hope (44) was last out as Warwick ended on 144 all out and the defeat means they ended the season with 341 points and third place in Division Five.
