Uphill Castle were defeated at Street by 84 in a basement battle.

UPHILL Castle travelled to fellow strugglers Street hoping to record their first win of the season, but were beaten by 84 runs.

Fast opening spells from George Cox (9-1-30-1) and Mitch Fox (10-2-38-1), with both getting early breakthroughs. Markus Bail (10-1-70-1) was introduced and although got Higgs stumped, he struggled for any rhythm in his bowling.

This brought Andy Llewellyn (10-3-23-3) onto bowl and it proved to be a good decision, taking three wickets and slowing the run rate. Krish Kumar (8-0-55-1) offered a fiery spell of bowling, which gave Uphill a needed lift and fight.

Dave Millard (3-0-21-1) finished the innings with his slow bowling as Street finished on 248.

Kumar and Millard took to the crease and Kumar attacked from ball one, but was caught early on for six. Chris Disney’s stay was short as he was adjudged caught behind.

Gareth Williams and Millard set to build an innings looking comfortable and punishing any bad ball. Millard was next to go and Llewellyn started scoring runs freely with Williams.

When these two were dismissed, Australian Mitch Fox offered some resistance and Cox and Bail were frustrated, but Uphill’s innings lost wickets constantly and were bowled out for 164.

A special mention to Bradley Patch, who made his first team debut at the age of 14.

WITH both sides being hit with player unavailability, Uphill 3rd XI defeated Barrington by five wickets.

Barrington elected to bat first and started well against the opening bowling pair of young Camper and veteran Kelly, putting on 92 before Kelly had Walsh caught by Tanner at mid-on.

Camper at the other end was injecting pace and swing deceiving the batsman. Captain Rob Newman injected more youth into the bowling with the pairing of Matt Davis and Jacob Matthews.

Matthews bowled Crocker who scored a swift 18, followed quickly by Brain, who was run out by Sam Parsons, who unleashed an accurate throw.

The wickets started to tumble, Ty Jameson took a good catch and with Davis and Matthews removing the remaining batsman, Barrington were all out for 144.

Uphill lost a couple of quick wickets, befor Tanner’s 60 not out helped Uphill reach their target, helped by a sixth wicket partnership with Parsons, who scored an unbeaten 21.