Dorridge (15pts) 247-8
Bromsgrove (8pts) 233-8
Match drawn
BROMSGROVE fell short in a run chase that should have been a formality, as they drew their opening Birmingham and District League Division One encounter.
The 247 required for victory seemed a big ask but at 194-4 with eight overs left, there should have been only one result.
Bowling first, Dorridge struggled to get the ball away with Omar and Aatif Ali both bowling with great control.
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The early wicket of John White helped the Bromgrove cause, but Imran Jamiel (81) was in a patient mood and held the innings togther.
Eustace (63) and Hafeez (34) helped him along but the match-changing innings came from Elliot Seal, who scored 35 quick-fire runs against the run of play to help his team to 247-7 from 55 overs.
For the Boars, Nick Husbands took 3-75 from 17 overs.
The Bromsgrove batsmen knew they would have to keep the scoreboard ticking over and Alexei Kervezee (36) dominated in the early exchanges.
He and Omar raced to 50 for the first wicket.
Jayden Levitt (0) struggled before Valeed Butt and Omar took the score within touching distance of victory.
Butt (27) played a fine supporting role before he was bowled by Waqar Mohamed.
Lyndon Jones (19) kept the run rate going, during which Omar suffered a severe bout of cramp, restricting his movement and requiring the services of a runner.
Bromsgrove stayed in command despite the loss of Jones and Will Lake (9), who was making his first team debut.
Omar brought up his century and looked to be bringing the Boars home but the constant loss of partners at the other end increased the pressure and he was finally bowled by Ball for an excellent 115.
Duncan Roke and Mark Evenson tried to keep up with the chase before Tom Hill and Husbands knuckled down for the draw, falling just 14 runs short.
Boars captain Evenson was happy to salvage some points, but still believes his side squandered a winning position.
He said: "A couple of years ago we would have got into a situation where we would have lost this game.
"But obviously it was disappointing to get so close but not quite get over that final hurdle.
"We didn't quite get the rub of the green, with catches not going to hand and we had a couple of very close-call decisions."
Bromsgrove should be able to welcome back overseas leg-spinner Dilawar Khan Orakzai for their first home game of the season against Shrewsbury next week.
Tom Green is also expected to be back but Valeed Butt will be missing.
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