London Maccabi Vale made a flying start to the Chess Valley League season with a seven-wicket victory over Long Marston.

Early morning rain put the start time back at Rowley Lane in a match reduced to 40 overs-a-side.

SEE MATCH PHOTOS

LMV captain Neil Lederman lost the toss and Long Marston had no hesitation in batting first. The visitors made an excellent start, finding the boundary with some clean hits.

Steven Allweis and Eddie Davis, making their first league starts for the club, along with Harry Levy, produced tidy spells, although it was not until Lederman came on that LMV started to make inroads into the Long Marston top-order.

After seeing his team drop three chances, Lederman eventually made the breakthrough, with Danny Caro showing a safe pair of hands at short third man.

Adam Brand joined the attack. He finished with 1-51 off nine overs, and claimed the key wicket of the innings.

Lederman (3-16) added a further two to his tally, while Allweis returned for a second spell, this time bowling spin, and finished with 3-31.

Adam Spooner chipped in with another wicket as Long Marston were dismissed for 189 off 38 overs.

Spooner and Caro made their intentions clear at the start of the LMV reply., finding the boundary with some powerful blows.

Spooner eventually fell for a brisk 29 from 35 balls in a knock that included four boundaries and a six.

Caro was then joined by another newcomer, David Ritterband, who hit a flurry of twos before departing. That brought Adam Brand to the crease and together with Caro, the Maccabiah stalwarts took the match away from Long Marston with some excellent strokeplay.

Brand blasted 46 runs in his 36-ball knock, smashing eight boundaries before falling the same way as Spooner, top-edging one to mid-wicket.

Caro went on to steer LMV home with 10 overs to spare. His knock of 71 from 77 balls ensured LMV cruised to victory, with Alex Haffner striking the winning runs.

LMV travel to Brentham in their second league encounter on Sunday.