HIMLEY captain Stuart Wedge (right) has pinpointed team spirit as one of the main reasons for his side’s great start to the season.

Wedge, pictured left, was delighted with a six wicket win over reigning Birmingham and District Premier champions Barnt Green on Saturday at Stourbridge Road in a game which was curtailed to 35 overs because of rain.

It leaves Himley still in third place, 21 points behind leaders Walsall and 19 behind second placed Berkswell.

There were a lot of contributions amongst the team as Barnt Green could only make 136-7, Rajat Bhatia, Nathan Round and Ashfak Hussain all taking two wickets, before Himley scored 137-4, with Greg Wright unbeaten on 54.

Himley now go into a league game at Knowle and Dorridge on Saturday, with Wedge having every confidence in his squad.

He said: “It was a good win for us on Saturday after a delayed start and although winning the toss helped us we did well to restrict a very good side and go on and win the game.

“There were a lot of contributions, with no one player outstanding, and that is a feature of the team spirit we have here at the moment which has seen us do well in the opening games and hopefully will continue.”

Wedge again praised the contribution of Bhatia, who took his first wickets for the club and who he said has settled in well since arriving in the Black Country.

He said: “Rajat’s wife is arriving this week which will give him something to focus on when not playing cricket but in general he has adapted well already and is producing some good performances.”

Wedge himself will delay surgery on a troublesome shoulder injury until the end of the season and said he has found no problem playing with it.

He said: “I haven’t felt any twinges and it hasn’t stopped me playing but it is something, long term, that will probably need an operation but it can wait until the end of the season as I don’t want anything to interrupt the rhythm we have got going.”