BARNARDS Green registered their first win of their Birmingham League Division One campaign with a 32-run triumph over local rivals Kidderminster.

Ryan Tongue (24) and debutant Josh Blunt (23 not out) top scored for Green who were all out for 148 at North End Lane.

The hosts’ bowlers then stepped up the plate with George Rhodes taking 4-20 while Phil Harris, Tongue and Blunt all chipped in with two wickets each to skittle Kidderminster for 116.

Green will now look to back that up when they visit Himley on Saturday (12pm).

New first-team skipper Tongue won the toss against Kidderminster and chose to bad as he walked out against former Green paceman Pat Brown.

But it was Kidderminster’s other bowler Liam Weston who made life difficult for the Green batsmen, removing Dannie Rees (9) and Adam Wiffen (7).

The home side were struggling to establish any kind of partnership as Tongue was trapped lbw before Rhodes (5) was caught by Liam Weston off Chris Steele.

This left Green 55-4 in the 16th over with Harris and Oli Swift at the crease.

The pair took the score to 73 when Steele grabbed a second as Harris was adjudged lbw before Swift (12) was bowled by Kidderminster captain Neil Pinner.

Debutant Mahaaz Ahmed who started off batting sensibly with Harris was next to fall as he was caught behind by keeper Tom Kimberlin for six off Rich Kimberlin.

While Ash Brewer was dismissed for just four runs Blunt punished any bad balls in a valuable partnership with Jack Mackintosh.

The score reached 148 when Mackintosh (13) was bowled by Steele who also removed Shane Thompson (0).

Green’s opening bowlers Harris and Thompson struggled with their control early on as Kidderminster reached to 38 in eight overs thanks mainly to extras.

Harris made the important breakthrough as he clean bowled Charlie Stainforth (12) before Tongue had Andrew Kimberlin (17) caught by Harris.

The dangerous Neil Pinner joined Shameer Ahmed in the middle with the score on 46-2 in the 12th over but this soon became 62-7 thanks to a fine spell of bowling from Rhodes and Tongue.

Ahmed (2) was caught behind by Brewer before Rhodes took the next four wickets, removing Connor Smith (0), Pinner (6), Rich Kimberlin (2) and Tom Kimberlin (3).

Blunt then had Weston and Brown caught in quick succession leaving Kidderminster on 80-9.

Sam Beadsworth plugged away and went on to make 42 before being trapped lbw by Harris to end the visitors’ vague hopes of a win.

Green’s 20 points sees them move to joint second with Kidderminster and three other teams after the first three weekends of the campaign.