STOURBRIDGE made a winning start to the new season with success at Streetly.

Stour won by 49 runs away from home to make a positive start to their campaign in Division Three of the Birmingham and District Premier League.

Streetly skipper Craig Moore put the opponents in hoping to skittle them out cheaply but the young Stour outfit had other ideas.

Sixteen years old Zain Ul Hassan's 48, Matt Bradley's 38, skipper Josh Bank's 48 and a quick-fire 44 off 30 balls from new man Jade Richter took them well past the double hundred. Shoaib Khalil picked up four wickets for 41 off seven overs.

In reply, the host lost the wickets of Neil Curtis and Craig Moore for mere six runs, both early victims of the South African paceman Richter.

The lower order Steve Hinton (27), Michael Dinney (38) and the number nine Shoaib Khalil (32) secured the double hundred but fell short of the target.

Two outstanding catches from the young Dominic O’Reilly to get rid of Imran Qadir and Steve Eastham came a crucial times.

Stourbridge's firsts will travel to Nuneaton this Saturday (noon start).

It is a positive start to the season for Stourbridge as they look to erase the woeful memories of the 2016 season that ended in the relegation to Division Three.

Changes in leadership had to be made following the resignation of Matt Bradley after two seasons at the helm.

“It was a great disappointment that Matt decided to give up captaincy. He worked hard without results,” said Dan Haywood, the vice chairman.

Josh Banks who has come through the junior ranks at the club has now replaced Bradley with Jitesh Jivan-Patel as his vice skipper.

At the request of the senior players, Mikesh Jivan-Patel will take on a new role of club captain.

Recruitment has been successful to the extent that five young promising local players will join the squad. Richter, 20, has also been joined by paceman Waleed Karimullah from the USA.