Disappointing defeat leaves Welbeck facing ‘must-win’ game on Saturday

“That is the second time we have played against them at home as the first game was moved to our ground when their ground was unfit,” said Welbeck captain Richard Stroh.

“So they have had a whale of a time at our place, taking 16 points.

“Now we are really looking forward to going to Attenborough on Saturday and, with them being bottom of the table, it becomes a must-win game really. But we will take nothing for granted.”

Asked to bat first on Saturday, Welbeck made 178-8 in their 50 overs.

But rain saw Plumtree's target reduced to 175 in 48 overs under Duckworth-Lewis.

And they made 175-3 in just 336.4 overs to take the points.

Ben Bowring scored 41 for Welbeck and Ashley Willis added an unbeaten 39, Callum Dring taking 3-31.

Plumtree's reply started badly as they lost their first two wickets for 31.

But Seb Menzhausen (82 not out) and Saad Ashraf (54) came together to put on 125 for the third wicket and take them to the brink of victory.

“It was a very disappointing result. We were not at the races at all on Saturday,” said Stroh.

“We lost the toss and it was wet, so conditions were tricky. But there are no excuses.

“We got off to a steady start but wickets fell at regular intervals, there were no partnerships formed.

“We had a little burst near the end through our opening bowler, Ash Willis, and 17-year-old Dan Ward which took us to 178.

“Then a bit of rain came around again and Duckworth-Lewis got involved.

“We made a decent start, getting them two down early doors before they had a decent partnership between Menzhausen and Ashraf that took the game away from us really.”