HANLEY Castle and Upton had wayward bowling and poor batting to blame when they suffered a 63-run defeat to Alveley in Worcestershire League Division Four.

Opting to make first use of a green wicket with some live grass on it, Hanley made early inroads into the Alveley top order as Josh Benson-Smith took an outstanding catch off his own bowling to dismiss Will Rodenhurst for a duck.

He then hit the off stump of Chris Parkes in consecutive overs.

Stand-in skipper Will Chambers brought himself into the attack and was immediately vindicated as he yorked David Jones for eight.

However, Hanley let their momentum slip as Lee Carr and Matthew Watkins solidified the innings as Alveley reached drinks at 68-3.

Further resistance from the duo took the score to 83-3 when Tony Hutchings induced a thin edge from Carr through to Charlie Tippell behind the stumps, before bowling Jamie Lawrence in quick succession.

Just as they were looking to get on top, Hanley encountered more resolve from Luke Mundie, who joined forces with Watkins to bring the score up to 128-5.

Ollie Price was reintroduced into the attack and instantly removed Watkins for 36. Price continued to bowl tightly and quickly, together with Hutchings, as Hanley’s pressure told when skipper Chambers ran out Connolly.

Josh Benson-Smith replaced Hutchings but some good shots from Mundie coupled with a fair amount of good fortune meant that the score was 167-7 when Price removed Jamie Blaymires with the final ball of the 49th over. Another wicket for Chambers, bowling Hand, restricted Alveley to 169-9.

Nick Bentley survived three early chances in the slip cordon, with nothing going to hand as the Pelicans rode their luck early on.

Bentley was bowled by Hand soon after for 13, and Dan Powell nicked to slip off the same bowler a couple of overs later to leave Hanley 21-2, which became 21-3 when Chambers miscued a leg glance to mid-off.

Matt Pratley was looking solid and he and Price nudged the score up to 61 when Price was unlucky to be bowled for 14 by Lawrence after the ball came off his pad.

Pratley was the only batsman to worry the Alveley bowlers as the wickets of Charlie Tippell and Benson-Smith preceded the fall of Pratley for 36.

The dismissals of Harry Tippell, Andy Brown and Grant Mathews followed quickly as Hanley were bundled out for 106 amongst poor shot selection and lack of restraint.