Rain the dampener on Staffs' victory bid

The Staffordshire Wolves shared the spoils with Lancashire Lions after the elements had the final word and forced the BCEW Regional League clash at Alexandra Park to be abandoned.

Rain delayed the start of the match and further interruptions saw the game cut to 17 overs a side.

Opener Zeb Khan's rapid half-century – under league rules he then had to retire – got Staffordshire up and running while partner Mazen Malik picked up the pace after striking successive boundaries.

Staffordshire closed on 155-3 – an innings of two halves with the first eight overs on a turf wicket before the game, with the agreement of both teams, was switched to an adjoining artificial strip.

The Lions made a positive start to their reply and were 34 without loss after three overs.

But with fielders repeatedly losing their footing on a now-treacherous surface, one more downpour was enough for the umpires to intervene.

Staffordshire coach Steve Lightfoot hailed an 'excellent' competitive debut from his men, who played two friendlies last season and have trained extensively indoors over the winter.

"It was a tremendous performance to score 155-3, Zeb Khan retired on 51 not out and Mazen Malik unbeaten on 34," he said.

"Tremendous effort from the guys. Lancashire are a very established side and very competitive as well.

"In the end, the game was declared abandoned because we didn't bowl the minimum number of overs (10) to constitute a match, so we split the points, no bonus points.

"We would have achieved three bonus points for our batting, one per 50 runs scored.

"Our next match is on May 15, away to Herefordshire. We've never played them before, but I expect a tough game because the Royal National College for the Blind is in Hereford itself."