Halesowen CC skipper Wes Griffiths remains upbeat despite dropped catches costing his side dear against Eastnor.

Griffiths watched on as his side put down several chances which allowed their visitors to rack up a score of 254-6 in 55 overs, with Atiq Ur Rehman top scoring with 125.

Griffiths himself then top scored for the hosts with 75 in the chase. Yet even a belligerent 43 from Phil Croft and contributions from Mo Sahib and AJ Weerappuli proved not enough as Halesowen were forced to settle for the losing draw, finishing on 231-9.

The result saw Halesowen lose ground on the top two though Griffiths was keen to concentrate on the positives.

He said: “It was a disappointing result but having said that they are a decent side who are on a good run and there are quite a few positives to take from the game.

“Our bowlers toiled very hard and put in some big efforts on what was a belter of a deck and I was pleased with our effort in that sense, however our fielding was not up to the same level and that was the difference between the two sides.

“We dropped a number of important catches and catches win matches.

“We have to be realistic and expect that we will have the odd off day and even on a day where we were perhaps not at our very best we still came out with quite a few positives.” Halesowen travel to Harborne this Saturday.