KENILWORTH Cricket Club suffered a narrow four-run defeat against Lancashire side Longridge CC in a pre-season friendly that went down to the last ball.
The Warwickshire club won the toss and elected to field against a Longridge side who were crowned Lancashire champions last season.
Longridge made a solid start as Joshua Mullin scored 53 not out before he retired and put on 55 runs for the first wicket alongside James Whitehead (19).
However, Kenilworth then took a flurry of wickets to restrict Longridge to 102-5 as Tom Skinner (3-25), Connor Shingler (1-8) and Darius Potten-Ravenshad (1-17) all struck.
Useful knocks from Nick Wilkinson (19) and Archie Smith (26 not out) helped Longridge finish on 164-7 from their 40 overs as Matthew Casey (2-23) claimed the final wicket of the innings.
In response, Kenilworth made a promising start as openers Sonu Kumar (36) and Joe Atkinson (30) helped the home side reach 101-2.
However, Kenilworth were only able to add 17 more runs for the loss of five wickets as Longridge took command to leave the home side on 118-7.
Despite the best efforts of Louis Smithson (21), Henry Curran (13), Potten-Ravenshad (13) and Casey (12), Kenilworth were eventually all out for 160 with the former run out on the final ball.
Kenilworth host Leamington on Saturday, April 15 in a friendly with the game to start at midday at Warwick Road.
