There was a rare ray of sunshine among the rain for Whitchurch on Saturday as they picked up their first win since May with a thumping of Redditch at Heath Road.

The visitors hoped to prey on Whitchurch's low confidence with the bat by giving them first go of the track but it soon backfired as Daniel Bowen's men piled on the runs to set a challenging total for Redditch.

Former skipper Alex Huxley opened the batting and he enjoyed a return to form, compiling a patient 66 from 101 balls at the top of the innings, with eight fours as he set a solid platform for Whitchurch.

He and Sam Ellis put on 54 for the first wicket before the latter was trapped lbw by Waqas Ali for 24, with three fours, bringing Ijaz Yousef to the crease.

He and Huxley came together to put on 103 runs together for the second wicket as Yousaf also scored 66 from 92 balls, with eight fours and one six.

Huxley was next to go as he was also trapped lbw by Tanay Kulkarni and he was followed by Yousaf 20 runs later who was caught off the bowling of Waqas Ali.

From there, the remaining Whitchurch batsmen weighed in with the runs as well as Salim Ahmed scored an almost run-a-ball 32 while Elliott Bowen's 25 from 13 balls was a fine cameo.

Wicketkeeper Kristen Ali finished 22 not out with two sixes as Whitchurch posted 264-5 from their 50 overs.

Ghulam Moyhuddin and Waqas Ali both finished with two wickets apiece for Redditch.

In reply, Whitchurch made the perfect start as Daniel Bowen removed Thomas Phelan with the first ball of the innings as he was bowled for a diamond duck.

From there Redditch rarely recovered as they lost four wickets for 44 runs with Elliott Bowen taking two and William Doerr grabbing one as Redditch were left in disarray.

Doerr picked up two more wickets in the middle order as Redditch were reduced to 62-6 and then 73-7 before a fightback from Kulkarni at number nine delayed the defeat for the visitors.

He ran out of partners and finished 39 not out from 46 balls as the visitors were bowled out for 137.

Doerr's 3-22 from 10 overs was the pick of the bowling as both Bowens grabbed two wickets each, plus one for Yousaf, Simon Dimelow and Salim Ahmed all grabbing one each as Whitchurch picked up 20 points.

Meanwhile, there was no such luck for the second XI who were struggling for players but managed to fulfill their fixture at their counterparts at Bridgnorth on Saturday.

Batting first, the seven players were shot out for just 28 with the hosts only having to take six wickets. However, none of the visiting batters were able to reach double figures, with the 10 extras given by Bridgnorth coming out as top scorer.

Dan Kearsley and James Dawkins both took two wickets each.

In reply, home skipper finished nine not out while fellow opener Andrew Carson finished 19 not out from 14 balls as the pair reached their target in the fifth over.

The trip proved to be a pointless one for the Heath Road second string.

On Sunday, the third XI's trip to Madeley fourth XI was cancelled because of the bad weather, with both sides picking up five points each.

This Saturday, the first XI will hope to avoid a tragedy when Stratford-upon-Avon make the trip to Heath Road for a 12pm start.

The second XI will make the trip to Wellington.