STUART Wedge is hoping home comforts will help Himley climb the Birmingham League Premier Division table.

The Stourbridge Road outfit ended a run of three straight defeats with a winning draw against Shrewsbury last weekend and with three of their next four games also at home — starting with Saturday’s visit of West Bromwich Dartmouth — the skipper believes there is no better time to turn the corner.

Meanwhile, Wedge confirmed the club are looking at the possibility of bringing in an overseas player to boost the ranks.

He said: “It’s a bit odd to have such a cluster of home games so it’s important we make the most of it.

“We’ve got a few players who should be coming back this weekend. Tom Cadmore and Ben Smith may be available, while we expect to see Nick Harrison back.

“The club are also looking to bring in an overseas player and we should know more by the end of the week.

“It’s something that’s gone through the committee rather than myself but there are a few possible players identified.

“Even if it does go ahead it will take time for the paperwork to go through.”

Key to Himley’s performance against Shrewsbury was a vastly improved batting display after they had been put in by the visitors.

Chris Tranter (65) and Greg Wright (54) put on 104 for the first wicket, while Nathan Round hit 45 before Wedge himself got involved, crashing an unbeaten 30 from 23 balls to help post a total of 238-6.

There was plenty to admire in the bowling too as despite the absence of front-line bowler Harrison, Himley ripped into the visiting top order thanks to Ashfak Hussain (5-29) and Wedge (4-33).

At one stage victory looked a mere formality as Shrewsbury wobbled on 58-7 but an unbeaten 44 from Tom Cox, coupled with some determined batting from the lower order, helped them survive to finish on 123-9.

Wedge admitted some frustration at having not taken maximum points.

He said: “Would we have taken the result before the game? Yes we would but when you consider the trouble we had them in, there is some disappointment.

“I would have fancied my chances of chipping out the last wicket but I’d bowled my quota of overs.

“Fair play to Tom Cox, he showed great resilience even though he played and missed at a few.

“I couldn’t have asked for anything more from the batsmen. The wicket was doing a fair bit but Chris and Greg really set us up well.”