RUGBY’s winning form continued on Saturday after they eased to an eight-wicket victory over a struggling Hampton & Solihull outfit in the Warwickshire Premier League.
Owen Edwards won the toss and chose to bowl first, which proved to be a wise move on a wicket that offered varying bounce and was difficult to bat fluently on.
It was Edwards (2 for 20) himself who got Rugby off to a good start, removing Johangir Khan (0) in the first over of the match and then picking up another wicket in his second over.
When Lee Golding (1 for 12) had Matt James (4) caught behind soon after, Hampton had slumped to 13 for 3, but Mark James (16) and Chris Hughes (37) fought back for the visitors.
They had moved onto 52 for 3 but, once Mike Powell’s off spin broke the partnership, there was little resistance from the rest of Hampton’s batsmen.
Wickets tumbled at regular intervals, including a spell of four wickets for three runs, as Powell (12-5-11-4) and Matt Ewer (11-3-30-2) did the damage in 36.4 overs.
The final pair added 16 in almost as many overs, before Tom Wilkins was introduced and claimed the tenth wicket with his fourth delivery and Hampton were all out for 84.
Rugby lost Henry Wilkins (5) in the second over of their reply, but Asaad Qureshi and Rishi Tank steadied the ship and moved their side to 25 for 1 after ten overs when the tea break was taken.
The pair were watchful before the interval, but began confidently upon the resumption and the score began to move along quickly.
Both batsmen joined Rugby this season and have made a really positive impact with the differing styles in the top order and they added 60, before Qureshi (45) was caught in the deep.
Tank (29 not out) knocked off the remaining runs and Rugby reached the winning line in the 23rd over for 20 points.
