SKIPPER Owen Edwards says title-chasing Rugby are all geared up for their huge Birmingham League Division Three clash against leaders Stourbridge.
Second-placed Rugby know victory on Saturday at Webb Ellis Road would mean they only need to beat Newport on the final day of the season the following Saturday to secure the league crown.
Frustratingly for Rugby, though, they are missing some key players for the crunch match against Stourbridge but Edwards believes they have able replacements.
“Michael Hughes and Matt Ewer are unavailable which is disappointing because they’re both in good form,” said Edwards.
“Vishaal Rathod is also still injured and, even if he plays, he won’t be bowling at full tilt.
“However, we’ve shown all season we have a lot of depth in the squad, so I really back the guys coming into the team to do a job and our team spirit will be as strong as ever.
“It’s a great opportunity to play a high profile match, which we never expected at the start of the season, so we will go out there and give it our best shot and hopefully continue our good form.”
With Stourbridge slumping to a four-wicket defeat to Pelsall on Saturday, Rugby took full advantage of their slip-up with a 132-run success over Milford Hall.
After winning the toss, Rugby opted to bat and a fine 113 off 132 balls from Raj Chohan guided the hosts to an imposing total of 281-6 from their 50 overs.
Henry Wilkins then did the damage with the ball, taking 4-7 from 6.4 overs as Milford were hustled out for 149 in their reply.
Ewer and George Terry also chipped in with two wickets each.
“Raj’s hundred set us up perfectly and then everyone played their part to get the win,” said Edwards.
“Before last weekend, it looked like Stourbridge were out of reach because we’d still need them to lose their last match even if we’d beaten them this weekend.
“However, it is now in our own hands after they lost and we won.”
