COLWALL made a disappointing start to their Worcestershire League Division 1 campaign as they crashed to a decisive 97-run home defeat by Bewdley at Stowe Lane on Saturday.

New captain Ben Cooke had little hesitation in asking the visitors to bat on a soft pitch and the decision looked a sound one as some accurate and pace bowling from Mike Gooch and Dan Newby tied down the Bewdley top order.

Gooch made the initial breakthrough as Ash Fearnell was superbly caught low down by keeper Ben Wheeler, and he then went on to clean bowl both Nick Wilkinson and Mike Harris to leave Bewdley struggling on 55-3 in the 21st over.

Newby then gave way to Fergus Cameron, but the move proved problematic as midway through his first over Cameron sent down successive no-ball beamers, which under new laws meant the umpires had to rule him out of the attack for the rest of the innings, Newby returning to finish his over.

Meanwhile, Bewdley danger man, Rob Combes had begun striking the ball cleanly and he upped the scoring rate with a couple of sixes before Newby broke through to trap Matt Cowdery leg before with the score on 87-4 in the 26th over.

Finding the boundary more frequently, Combes brought up his half-century before partner Rob Crane was comfortably caught by Simon Davies off Ben Febery’s off-spin with the total on 110-5 after 30 overs.

Colwall were still well in the contest at this point, but with Jono Gooch unable to find his line in three wayward overs after replacing his brother at the pavilion end, Colwall’s bowling options were limited as Combes hit top gear in an accelerating stand of 87 with Bewdley skipper Jack Mills.

The latter eventually fell caught by Newby off Jame Wagstaffe for 39 and although Mike Gooch and Newby both came back to take a further wicket, Combes took command of the closing overs moving on an unbeaten 108, including 12 fours and four sixes, as 17 runs came in the last over to push the total to 225-8, Mike Gooch finishing with an excellent 4-35 from his 16 overs.

Facing a daunting target on a slow wicket, Colwall made a poor start to their reply as openers James Abel and Joe Blight both fell leg before playing across the line against the accurate medium pace of Andy Platt.

Cooke and Cameron resisted stoutly for a while taking the total to 67 before Cooke was out for 24 well taken by keeper Combes down the legside off Josh Freestone and when the same combination accounted for Ben Febery and Cameron cover-drove a catch to Cowdery the left-arm spin of Mills, Colwall were stranded on 82-5.

Ben Wheeler hit out defiantly to reach 25 before holing out to Cowdery off Mills and with an earlier rain break limiting the innings to 43 overs, Colwall just held out to reach 128-9 at the close Mills finishing with 4-19 from 12 accurate overs and Freestone taking 3-35.

Colwall 2nds suffered an even worse setback as they went down by eight wickets after being dismissed for just 67 at Bewdley in 2nd X1 Section Division 1.

Opener John Card, skipper Will Bishop and Dom Bannister were the only Colwall batsmen to put up any real resistance against the home spinners, Joe Smith claiming 4-14 as the visitors were bowled out in the 38th over.

Card and Eddie Hill each took a wicket as Bewdley eased to victory in the 23rd over of their reply.

Colwall 3rds edged to a last ball win in their friendly clash at home to Strollers, vice-captain Alex Greaves hitting the final delivery for four to come off unbeaten on 51 as Colwall edged past Strollers total of 140-6 with two wickets in hand.