Ross were well beaten in their latest Marches League encounter when Goodrich cemented their position at the top of the Marches League One table, winning the local encounter by 154 runs on a glorious day at The Park.

For the second week running, stand in Captain Jim Lewis won the toss and elected to bowl but the hope for early wickets didn’t materialise as Goodrich openers Sam Griffiths and Chris Tookey batted patiently against Paul Morris (0-32) and Chloe Tingle. Their partnership had reached 94 in 19 overs before Tookey (42) was sharply stumped down the leg-side by wicket keeper Lewis off the bowling of Adam Davies.

Rory Jackson then picked up the run-rate with 51 from 43 balls before spinner Charlie Cole (1-47) enticed him to drive a catch straight to Tom Edwards at mid-wicket. Alex Springer (1-42) then picked up the wicket of Brown (10) thanks to a well-judged catch by Stu Mair in the deep before visiting skipper Griffiths was finally dismissed, caught and bowled by the returning Adam Davies for an excellent 85.

215-4 quickly became 218-5 as Tingle (1-58) made the next breakthrough having O’Brien well caught by Davies but, unlike last week, Ross couldn’t pick up maximum bowling points as Joe Griffiths and Joe Provis put on 45 in the last 6 overs to enable the visitors to close on 263-5. Adam Davies was the most successful Ross bowler, finishing with 2-43 from ten excellent overs.

After a pleasant period of time in the shade the Ross reply began but this week the batting simply didn’t function and only Michael Jeffryes, who scored 44 from 47 balls at the top of the order, threatened to make the big innings needed to get Ross close. Wickets fell at regular intervals and only youngsters Alex Springer and Ethan Lerego, on his debut, made it into double figures as the innings subsided in the beautiful evening sunshine to just 109 all out inside 33 overs. O’Brien, Tookey and Provis picking up three wickets each for the visitors.

Despite gaining just two points from the game, Ross still moved up one place in the league table and their attention now turns to a key game away at Dales in Leominster this weekend.