ALREWAS were beaten at Spondon, but will take plenty of positives from a hard-fought encounter.
The Herons lost the toss and were sent into the field first.
A couple of early wickets failed to derail the hosts though as they reached 117-4 thanks to 57 from Stephan Muller before he was trapped lbw by Sam van Daesdonk.
The runs continued to stack up as Justin Watson struck 83, while Joe Ashdown and Oliver Kellogg wrapped up the Spondon innings on 349-6 after unbeaten scores of 49 and 48 respectively.
But Alrewas did not look daunted by the target set them as they reached 101 before Gareth Woolley became the first wicket to fall when he was caught and bowled by Isaac Harrison on 44.
His replacement Will Smedley made 14 before also falling victim to Harrison, while James Burton reached 56 before being caught by Muller off the bowling of Chris Windmill to leave the Herons on 124-3.
Stephen Cole was stumped on 29 before Thomas Sherratt was caught after making 69 off 67 balls as the scoreboard ticked over to 261-5.
But despite the best efforts of the tail, the Herons fell just short as they finished the innings on 310-9.
