The cricketing battle between the two Worcester newcomers in the Lord’s Taverners John Bright Trophy corporate cricket tournament has been won by the Mainstay Group.

The property management specialists beat Sanctuary Housing by seven wickets when the two sides met at Britannic Park, Moseley, to complete the trophy’s 32 group matches after the fixture had been rained off earlier in the tournament.

Neither side could qualify for the semi-finals, which takes place on September 1 final between KPMG and Phoenix Group.

Sanctuary were restricted to 136/6 by Mainstay’s best bowling performance of the season. Don Barclay (36 rtd) and Neil Hirons (32) ensured a respectable total while Chris Manton (3-14) and Shaun Price (1-14) were main wicket takers.

Mainstay’s usual batting suspects Bill Spray (37 rtd) and Whaid Hussain (35 rtd) helped give their side a comfortable win and a commendable final mid-table position.

The match also saw Mainstay’s “crowd pleaser” Dan Faizey celebrating his birthday by bowling a large number of legitimate deliveries to rule himself out of the running as the trophy’s Most Unpredictable Bowler.

That prize goes to Adam Forster playing for Birmingham solicitors Cobbetts. His wayward deliveries v DTZ in July included a ballooning ball that that was caught by short-mid wicket.

And he managed the interesting bowing figures of 3-34 in his two eight-ball overs as well as impressing as one of the tournament’s quickest moving fielders.

The tournament’s 2010 Novice Cricketer Award goes to Sanctuary Housing’s ambidextrous Paul Kelly who decided against batting left-handed in his debut cricketing summer despite two earlier failures batting right-handed.

The result was an impressively-struck 35 retired. He followed up with bowling figures of 1-19 when Sanctuary Housing narrowly lost their July 6 encounter with No.5 Chambers.

Week 14 result:
Wed July 28 – Sanctuary Housing 137-6 in 16 overs (D Barclay 36 rtd, N Hirons 32, C Manton 3-14, S Price 1-13) Mainstay Group  139-3 in 13.6 overs (B Spray 37 rtd, W Hussain 35 rtd, P Johns 22, A Baines 1-14  J Hobbs 1-12), Mainstay won by 7 wkts.