HAGLEY enjoyed a mixed weekend as their promotion from Division Two was confirmed - but their title hopes fell by the wayside.

They won easily at home to Monmouth on Saturday but suffered defeat in a close game against league leaders Coombs Wood on Monday.

It’s now almost certain they will finish third, with a large gap between them and the top two.

On Saturday, Hagley racked up 286-5 in their 50 overs with Simon James (112 not out) batting throughout the whole innings. He was supported by good knocks by Amjad Ali (37) and Ian Moss (39).

Monmouth’s innings was reduced to 41 overs due to several rain stoppages throughout the day but Hagley were able to bowl their opponents out in the 40th over despite a resilient knock by Dan Head (51 not out). Amjad Ali (5-48) and Craig Bray (3-31) were too good for the opposition.

On Monday, Hagley went into the game against league leaders Coombs Wood with hopes of re-igniting their title fight. On a difficult surface, Coombs Wood were asked to bat first and began well with skipper Mike Langford (49) the mainstay of the innings.

Ali (2-63) and Jez Trinham (4-56) then began to dominate and take regular wickets. With John Porter (2-64) chipping in with a couple of victims, Coombs Wood were in big trouble at 129-7. But Dan Jones (67) played his shots and got Coombs Wood up to 225.

Hagley’s reply began well with Joe Lennon (51) playing shots from the start. He was joined by Aussie Chad Hitchcock (77) who played a fantastic innings.

But Asif Iqbal (7-48) tore through the Hagley line up with only Hitchcock remaining strong and when he was the ninth wicket to fall the game looked over.

But Craig Bray (24) got Hagley down to eight required before being the victim of a debatable decision as he was given out caught behind and Hagley were dismissed for 218.

Skipper Russ Andrews said: “We have some mixed feelings at the moment, as we were gutted to lose to Coombs Wood as we felt we were the better team on the day and if it wasnt for Asif we would have done it.

“But we have achieved the clubs main objective of getting promoted.”