CRICKET: WARWICK maintained their 34 point lead at the top of the Warwickshire League Division Five with a win against Peugeot Coventry & North Warwickshire.
Skipper Matt Warren lost his eighth consecutive toss as Peugeot elected to bat first.
With Warwick welcoming back Josh Osborne, the county town side had their two quick bowlers back to work in tandem at the top of the innings.
Osborne dismissed opener Jay with his first ball of his spell to get Warwick off to the perfect start.
Rajan Bhatti (21/3) then joined the part by dismissing opener Palmer – who was bowled – and then Phull for 0, leaving Peugeot at 30/3.
Ashu Sharma (23/2) and Abhishek Sharma (22/2) continued the attack, taking wickets at regular intervals to reduce Peugeot to 69/7.
Only the home team’s third batsman Chandra (41) offered any hope for Peugeot as they were eventually bowled out for 125 with Osborne and Evans taking the last two wickets.
In reply, Warwick were confident in chasing down the required score on a track that was only getting harder.
Second team opener Jon Davies lead the chase with the in form Adrian Passey.
Both openers got Warwick off to a solid start until Davis (10) was dismissed when chopping the ball back onto the stumps.
James Sood then joined Passey to take the score to 89/1.
The 18-year-old scored fluently to help Warwick towards their target with victory less than 40 runs away.
However Sood was then caught behind for 31 and Warren was caught three balls later to take the score to 89/3.
A few overs later and Passey was judged lbw for 42.
It was down to Taz Sharma (15*) and Rajan Bhatti (20*) to steady the innings as the pair guided Warwick home to a six wicket win.
Warwick welcome 3rd place Pak Shaheen next week which promises to be a tough encounter.
