BARNT Green once again demonstrated signs that they are going in the right direction but had to settle for a losing draw at Birmingham League Premier leaders Berkswell.

The hosts fell short, chasing down a target of 269 for victory, despite impressive performances by Ed Pollock and Matt Lamb.

Green had won the toss and put a Berkswell side packed with talent into bat first.

Captain Andy Sutton made an early breakthrough when he had Mark Best caught for five runs by Tom Brown.

But Berkswell rallied to 112-2 as Darren Maddy (49) and Chris Whittock (107) piled on the runs before Luke Radford dismissed the former.

Thomas Milnes was Berkswell’s only other big-hitting batsman and fell victim to Green bowler Tom Banton, who finished with figures of 4-63.

Green had restricted their normally big-hitting hosts to 268-8.

The hosts replied as Green lost Ethan Holmes (12) and Banton (6), but the visitors rallied from 41-2.

Lamb and Pollock put on a 126-run partnership as the home side reached 167 when Pollock was bowled by Mohammed Ahmed on 94.

Despite Radford hitting 26 runs, once Lamb fell victim to Thomas Milnes for 83, the rest of the batting order failed to build on the foundations as they slipped to 238-9 in 55 overs.

Sutton said: “This was a brilliant game of cricket and I haven’t seen that much talent at the ground for many a year.

“It was a frustrating display because we played well but didn’t quite do enough.

“We did well to keep Berkswell to a par score but then fell short chasing the score.

“Matt and Ed were excellent and if they had reached three figures it might have been a different story.”

Pollock and Lamb could miss Saturday’s clash at West Bromwich Dartmouth (noon start) as the Warwickshire pair are 12th men for England.

l The seconds got the better of Astwood Bank, who they restricted to 186-6 and then made 190-4 in 30 overs.

The thirds defeated Old Hill by 158 runs, with Jacob Aquilina scoring 100 runs .