CAPTAIN Matt Ewer scored a half-century in vain as Rugby Cricket Club suffered an agonising 10-run defeat against Solihull Municipal.
Ewer top scored with 67 and formed a solid partnership with Wes Landsdale (46) as Rugby lost their final five wickets for the addition of just 23 runs.
Solihull posted 227-6 from their 50 overs with Rugby unable to chase down the total as Alex Roslyn (5-42) claimed a five-for.
The result means Rugby remain 10th in the Warwickshire County League Premier Division table.
Rugby won the toss and elected to field but struggled with the ball as Solihull’s batters reached 50 without loss.
Opener James Roslyn (39) eventually fell to the bowling of Vishaal Rathod (1-16) before Ash Cutts (1-31) tool the wicket of Danish Hussain (20).
However, a 79-run third-wicket partnership took Solihull onto 203-3 as Divan Posthumus (1-52) finally had free-scoring George Gray (80) caught by Landsdale.
A flurry of wickets followed as Neal McGrath (3-54) accounted for A Roslyn (1), Nathan Boyce (53) and Danyal Mehmood (4) with the middle batter scoring a quickfire half-century from just 42 deliveries.
In reply, Rugby made a similarly strong start as opener Jeevan Barhey (12) was dismissed after Rugby had already passed the 50-run mark.
And Ewer and Landsdale then combined for a 97-run second-wicket partnership which took Rugby onto 154-2.
However, Rugby lost both Ewer and Landsdale in consecutive overs to the bowling of Daanish Mehmood (1-7) and Danyal Mehmood (1-24).
Rugby were unable to fully recover as Kyle Taylor (22) and Alex Watson (10 not out) were the only other batters to reach double figures.
A Roslyn and Farhaad Ali (3-33) ripped through Rugby’s middle and lower order as the visitors were all out just 10 runs short of victory in the 44th over.
