Strollers Cricket Club entertained Brockhampton 3rd XI in their opening Marches League Division 1 encounter at Fownhope on Saturday. Having won back to back promotions, Strollers 1st XI were testing themselves at the highest level of the Marches League for the first time in their 55 year history.

A third wicket partnership of 44 between Ethan Lerego and George Wood-Cole (16) steadied the Strollers innings but in truth Strollers middle order struggled to score quickly and several wickets were gifted to Brockhampton as the innings progressed.

Strollers managed to stay in the game largely down to the mature batting of young Ethan Lerego who batted for the majority of the innings to bring up a maiden club 50 and when he was finally out for 63, it was left to Alex Carter to score a quick fire 20* to lift the Strollers innings to a respectable 182-8 off the allotted 45 overs.

The game turned in Strollers favour in the closing overs as firstly Wood-Cole struck in successive balls to remove Charles (23) and Morrall and then Boswell took 4 late wickets including the key wicket of Price for 27. Whilst Brockhampton still had a chance of victory with 25 needed off the final 2 overs, they opted for the losing draw and extra bonus points under pressure from the tight off spin of Paddy Tandy, closing on 171 for 9.

An excellent first win in Division 1 for Strollers who picked up 22 points. In terms of performance, Strollers will also take heart from the fact that, whilst well short of their best, they fought hard to stay in the game for long periods and ultimately picked up a hard fought win.