HIMLEY CC skipper Greg Wright believes a bit of luck and the return of some key players could turn around his side’s spiralling fortunes.

Last Saturday’s defeat to Kidderminster was the club’s third on the bounce and pushed them further down the Birmingham Premier League standings.

Their plight has not been helped by losing the toss and being asked to bat first in their last four games.

With opener Chris Tranter and batsman Daniel Bassett available for Saturday’s trip to Walmley, Wright remains in confident mood.

He said: “I don’t think we are too far off turning things around.

“Confidence has been low but there were some really good performances against Kidderminster.

“We could do with winning a few more tosses, it’s always difficult when you lose because you find yourself on the back foot right away.

“If you win the toss you are in control of the game.”

After being asked to bat on Saturday Himley lost openers TP Singh and Harshad Patel cheaply and were left on 25-3 when Cameron Mapstone departed for a duck.

Ollie Wright (37) and Stuart Wedge (51) lead the fightback, before Bilaal Hussain hit 33 as Himley finished on 177-7.

Wedge then removed Kidderminster opener Matt Pardoe with the first ball of the visitors’ reply. Craig Wood (59) and Neil Pinner (25) got things back on track but Shafiq Ahmed (3-36) was a constant menace and when Jason Voros was the seventh wicket to fall, Himley still lead by 32 runs.

It was left to visiting skipper Jon Wright (44 not) to hold his nerve and see his side over the line.

Despite the defeat, Himley’s skipper was pleased with the response to the previous week’s ten wicket mauling at Walsall.

He said: “We needed to bounce back quickly from the Walsall result, which was a bit of a one-off. I think we did that.

“We lost the toss and they bowled very well but we showed a lot of character to get back into the game.

“I can’t have any complaints about the result, they deserved to win.”