Green not thinking about title

8:30am Wednesday 23rd July 2008

BARNT Green CC skipper Dougie Brown has told his players to blank out any talk of the Birmingham and District League Premier Division title, as the league leaders prepare for their crunch clash with Wolverhampton.

The Cherry Hill Road outfit go into Saturday's game knowing they can all but eliminate their third-placed opponents from the title picture.

Green are still the team to catch after their seventh win of the season against Kenilworth Wardens at the weekend, and many people are already declaring it a two-horse race between Brown's men and Walsall for the title.

But the former Warwickshire all-rounder has warned his charges not to get distracted by talk of silverware.

He said: "I am not worried about what people say, I just want to make sure we keep doing our basics and do what we have been doing.

"When we go out onto the field of play we need to concentrate on every ball as it unfolds and the bigger picture will take care of itself.

"I have always said I am not worried about who we play as long as we carry on performing."

Green will be without big-hitting bastman Paul Bedford on Saturday, although Gavin Shephard is expected to return.

They are also waiting to hear whether or not Worcestershire seamer Gareth Andrew will be available to them.

Andrew took 4-15 on his debut for Barnt Green on Saturday.

Bromsgrove captain Mark Evenson has challenged his batsmen to knuckle down and rediscover their early season form after a defeat at Shrewsbury saw them leapfrogged by the Shropshire outfit in the Division One promotion race.

The Boars' second loss of the season came courtesy of a batting collapse which saw them dismissed for just 127.

But with the top two still very much in sight, Evenson knows how crucial Saturday's home game against basement boys Sutton Coldfield could be.

He said: "We were under no illusions we were going to go all season without a bit of a blip.

"The key reason has been not enough runs on the board.

"We've not applied ourselves as much as we did at the start of the season.

"We have got the bowling attack, but we need to give them a fighting chance by getting runs on the board.

"If we are looking to go up and play well the marker is how we get on against the better teams in the league, and so far we have not given ourselves a chance."

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