WET weather put pay to Rugby Cricket Club’s hopes of securing a first win of the new season away at Birmingham-based side Handsworth.
The game was limited to just five overs of play before the rain came down and forced the match to be abandoned.
An initial downpour saw the start delayed and the game reduced to a 30-over affair before Rugby eventually won the toss and elected to field.
And Rugby were rewarded immediately when Divan Posthumus removed Carby Dawkins with the second ball of the match only for the rain to return with Handsworth on 21-1.
Rugby play twice over the bank holiday weekend at home to Sutton Coldfield on Saturday, May 6 and away at Walmley on Monday, May 8.
However, Rugby’s second team were able to pick up their first win of the season with a two-wicket victory against Stockton Star.
And Rugby struck early with the ball as Vishaal Rathod (2-23) took the wicket of opener Anuman Goel (4) before Aravind Katragadda (3-22) trapped Sukhmanjeet Mann (18) lbw.
Rugby took control of the game thanks to a phenomenal spell from Darshan Desai (3-12) as he removed Dhruv Pathak (26), Anirudh Gupta (7) and Gulreiz Bajaj (1).
And a further wicket from James Nuttall (1-26) left Handsworth in trouble 99-7 before Amandeep Singh (32) provided some late resistance to help the visitors reach 143 all out as Katragadda took the last two wickets in consecutive balls.
Rugby slipped to 52-4 in reply as Desai (17), Charlie Robards (15), Henry Parker (11) and Nuttall (1) fell to the bowling of Pathak (4-24) and Anil Lohan (1-26).
However, a captain’s knock from Bhavik Rathod (40) and useful scores from Alex Watson (23) and Saj Rizvi (13) put Rugby back in control as Jonathan Sage (13 not out) hit a huge six to seal victory.
Elsewhere, Rugby’s third team secured a dominant 108-run win against East Newdigate with an impressive batting effort in challenging conditions.
Rugby were put into bat first on a wet and green wicket that offered the bowlers plenty of assistance throughout the match.
However, Rugby’s top order dug in as Rob Stipanovic (44) top scored and was supported by Liam Hebblewhite (32 not out), Aravind Ram (25) and Shreyas Honnalli (20).
And despite the best efforts of home bowler Carl Cooper (4-6), Rugby were bowled out for 161 which looked an above par score on a difficult wicket.
Rugby preceded to rip through the home side’s batting lineup as Murali Natarajan (3-18), Anil Orunganti (2-2), Liam Slaughter (2-6), Theo Nelson (2-15) and Jonathan Watson (1-15) bowled out East Newdigate for a measly 53.
