BARNARDS Green slipped to fifth in Birmingham and District Premier Cricket League Division One after an eight-wicket thrashing at Wellington.

The Malvern visitors lost the toss and were asked to bat, scoring just 80 on a difficult wicket.

Opener George Rhodes was bowled for a duck by a delivery that nipped back from overseas player Trevor Garwe.

Adam Dovey (3) followed quickly after being caught one-handed by Steve Lamb at second slip off the bowling of Anthony O’Connor.

Alex Hepburn was well supported by Andrew Curtis in a stand of 28 but both fell in consecutive overs.

Hepburn (29) was bowled by Garwe for 29 and Curtis (5) by Wendell Wagner.

Tapper (1) gave Garwe his third wicket with a chip to Dan Vaughan at mid-off, which brought Andy Ford and Kev Golder together with Green on 42-5.

Wellington turned to spin and captain Ford (3) was next to go as he tried to hit out at youngster Dan Lloyd but was caught by Vaughan at mid-on.

Golder batted solidly but saw his partners come and go too easily.

Ash Brewer (14) hit two fours and a six before being bowled by Wagner and Jon Dovey (1) top-edged a ball from Lloyd to Gareth Rees at first slip.

Owais Abdul grabbed the last two wickets as Rishe Umasuthan (1) played on and Jack Mackintosh (0) was caught by Wagner.

Golder was left on 16 not out as Green were skittled for just 80 in the 34th over.

With such a small total to defend, the visitors could not exert any pressure on eighth-placed Wellington.

Umasuthan trapped former Nottinghamshire player Neil Edwards lbw for 0 in the first over but Lamb and Glamorgan’s Rees batted comfortably.

Captain Ford rotated the bowlers and Lamb was given out lbw for 25 off Hepburn with the score on 77 but Rees (44no) quickly knocked off the remaining four runs.

Green took no points but are optimistic with the increased availability of players for the next few games.