RUGBY CC claimed a winning draw against relegation-threatened Moseley Ashfield thanks to a 145-run fourth-wicket partnership between Wes Landsdale and Owen Edwards.
Landsdale (78) and Edwards (81) frustrated Moseley’s bowlers as the pair lifted Rugby from 88-3 to 233-4 before the latter was eventually dismissed.
Rugby finished on 297-6 from their 50 overs and limited Moseley to 189-6 to claim a winning draw.
The result means Rugby sit eighth in the Warwickshire Premier League table and are just 12 points behind third place.
Rugby won the toss and elected to bat first as openers Hugh Cochrane (18) and Henry Parker (38) made a confident start with several early boundaries.
Jeevan Barhey added 20, which included two maximums, before two quick wickets brought Landsdale and Edwards to the crease.
The duo made a watchful start before playing more aggressive shots as Edwards raced to a half century, either side of two breaks for rain, before he eventually fell for 81 off just 75 balls.
And Landsdale continued his fine form with 12 boundaries on his way to scoring 78 before he was caught as Kasir Shah finished on 13 not out to take Rugby to 297-6 at the close of their innings.
Rugby’s bowlers made an immediate impact at the start of Moseley’s reply as Neal McGrath claimed the wickets of Hayden Evans and Charlie Greening for nought to leave the home side on 7-2.
McGrath (2-24) enjoyed a remarkable spell with the ball as he bowled six consecutive maidens, alongside his two wickets, conceding just 24 runs from his 12 overs.
Lee Golding (2-43) then took the wicket of Salahudin Khan (3) before later accounting for Luke Baker (22) who was caught by McGrath.
And Rugby’s young seamer Seth Westley (1-41) finally got the better of Oliver Thomas (27) with an excellent delivery that hit leg stump to leave Moseley on 71-4.
However, Moseley dug in and battled to a losing draw as opener Masharraf Shahzad hit 85 off 149 balls before he was trapped lbw by Hugh Cochrane (1-2).
Rugby’s 2nd XI suffered a three-wicket defeat against title rivals Sutton Coldfield despite a century from opener Charlie Robards in their Division 5 clash.
Batting first, Rugby’s Robards produced a superb innings before he was eventually bowled for 103 as he put on 89 for the first wicket with Lee James (51).
Several partners came and went as Bhavik Rathod (12) and James Nuttall (5) struggled to make an impact before Stuart Lloyd (31) provided some stability in the middle order.
And Rob Stipanovic’s quickfire 30 from 18 balls lifted Rugby to 253-6 from their 50 overs after Aravind Katragadda had been dismissed for one.
However, Rugby’s bowlers made a poor start as Sutton Coldfield raced to 47 without loss after just four overs.
Nuttall (1-44) finally broke the opening partnership of 69 with the wicket of Elliot Needle (16) before Katragadda helped slow the run rate.
Katragadda (2-54) impressed with the ball as he accounted for Reagan Beamish (18) and Oliver Gray-Nimmo (5) with two excellent deliveries.
However, Sutton opener Spencer Gray-Nimmo reached 100 off 97 balls before he fell to Jonathan Sage (1-26) as Rathod (1-48) trapped George Dyche (6) to leave the away side on 215-5.
And Nadeem Ahmad (58) and Nasar Ali (21) helped Sutton to victory with five overs to spare despite both batters falling to impressive young leg spinner Amaan Hassan Shah (2-48).
Rugby remain top of the table although their lead has been slashed with just nine points separating the top four teams.
Lastly, Rugby’s 3rd XI powered their way to a huge 132-run victory against Massey Ferguson as they bowled their opponents out for just 93 in Division Eight South Central.
Despite winning the toss and electing to bat, Rugby slipped to 18-2 before Alex Smith (37) and Akshay Vaghela got the innings on track with a 64-run partnership for the third wicket.
And Vaghela (85) was then joined at the crease by Liam Hebblewhite (55 not out) as the pair shared an 86-run stand for the fifth wicket.
This propelled Rugby to 225-5 from 41 overs before Liam Slaughter took the bold decision to declare which proved crucial later in the day as his side needed the extra overs to bowl out their opponents.
Massey’s reply started reasonably enough as they moved to 27-0 before Rubans Sugartharubans made the first breakthrough.
Wickets continued to fall from then on as Slaughter took the second wicket but it was the in-form duo of Rubans (3-24) and Murali Natarajan (4-9) who ripped through Massey’s batting order.
Tom Rigby also chipped in with a wicket as the Coventry side slumped to 75-9, before a stubborn last wicket pairing kept Rugby at bay until Vaghela finally broke the deadlock in the 46th over with the score on 93 to secure the win.
