TEENAGER Adam Hussain made an impressive first-team debut as he helped Barnt Green to a vital 74-run win over fellow strugglers West Bromwich Dartmouth.

The 15-year-old was handed his debut because of a host of first-team absences, but he and a host of players called up from the seconds stepped up to the plate.

The victory ended a four-game winless streak and eased the Cherry Hill Road side’s relegation worries as they opened up a 45-point gap over the bottom two.

Green had been without Ed Pollock and Matt Lamb, who were 12th men at England’s fourth Test at Edgbaston against Pakistan, while Josh Poysden was on duty for Warwickshire and Tom Banton played for Somerset Seconds over the weekend.

But they drafted in Karan Gour, Ethan Holmes, Hussain and Jayme Crouch among a host of new faces.

Green won the toss and elected to bat first and made 227-6 in their 55 overs, but needed a 147-run partnership between Hussain, who scored 72 runs, and Tom Brown (65) to get them out of trouble.

They had been 36-3 but by the time the dynamic duo had been dismissed, Barnt Green had reached 188-5, before captain Andrew Sutton (14 not out), Darrell Williams (11) and Crouch (15no) added a late flurry of runs.

Green made a vital breakthrough early on when Karan Gour had West Brom’s Kadeer Ali caught for five runs.

Luke Radford (3-26) and Sutton (3-44) also took wickets as Green dismissed the home side for 153.

Sutton said: “It was a great result, especially because were missing some key men.

“But this was a chance for some of the guys to step up and they all did very well.

“Adam is only 15 but he batted very well and Jayme Crouch also did a good job at wicketkeeper.

“It was an important partnership between Adam and Tom Brown and when we took the key wicket of Kadeer Ali we knew were going the right way.”

The quartet who missed the win could return for Saturday’s vital clash against fellow strugglers Walsall (noon start) at home.