HIMLEY CC captain Greg Wright is confident his side has what it takes to get their title-chase straight back on track when they travel to Wolverhampton this Saturday (noon start).

The title-chasing Stourbridge Road outfit suffered only their second reversal of the season as they slumped to a 53-run loss at Barnt Green last weekend.

It halted an impressive run of results which had seen them climb to second in the Birmingham Premier League.

Wright believes this weekend’s game offers his side the perfect opportunity to bounce back, while they will also be looking to avenge the opening day penultimate ball defeat at the hands of their fierce rivals.

Wright said: “Last weekend proved you can’t expect to keep reeling off wins, we have to take the defeat on the chin and look at ways of bettering our game.

“The most important thing is how we respond.

“Games against Wolverhampton are always ones you look forward to, it’s one of those dates you look out for when the fixture lists are published.

“They are flying at the moment and on form we are probably second favourites but we certainly won’t be lacking in motivation.”

After winning the toss and deciding to field on Saturday, Himley were frustrated by Barnt Green openers Nathan Newport (23) and Mehraj Ahmed (18), before seamer Stuart Wedge removed both in quick succession.

Daniel Shilvock hit 50 for the home side before being run out. He also shared a stand of 59 with skipper Dougie Brown for the fourth wicket, before Wedge’s return to the attack saw Himley take the upper hand as he removed Brown and dismissed Adam Smith and Nicholas Powell for ducks.

Overseas spinner Saurabh Sehgal then mopped up the tail to leave Himley chasing a reachable score of 175, Wedge finishing with figures of 5-45 while Sehgal took 3-52.

But any thoughts of an easy win quickly evaporated as Brown removed openers Chris Tranter (1) and Harshad Patel (1) before Stephen Wheeler bowled Nitesh Patel for two to leave Himley 13-3.

Wright then hit a quickfire 17 before becoming Brown’s third victim, Michael Hill having already beatent the skipper back to the pavilion for four.

Daniel Bassett (19), Wedge (26) and Sehgal (21) all made contributions but it was not enough as Himley were eventually dismissed for 122 in just 38.5 overs.

Wright said: “We were pretty happy with the way we bowled, we would have backed ourselves to get the runs but it was always going to be a tough chase in reality and they bowled really well.

“We just never got started but it’s not like we threw away our wickets playing silly shots, I don’t think we should read to much into it as we didn’t do a huge amount wrong.”

The result saw Himley slip to third in the table but they remain just 14 points behind leaders Knowle and Dorridge, with Wolverhampton moving up to second.

Wright believes the open nature of this year’s division means a number of team’s still have realistic title ambitions.

He added: “If you look at the table Walsall are down in seventh but they are not too far back.

“From our point of view we are still in a much healthier position than we usually are at this stage of the season.”

Himley could welcome back star bowler Tim Heap for this weekend’s game, though young seamer Jamie Lunn is away.