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CREDIT: David Lawrence @ Birmingham & District Premier Cricket League
Division One
Shrewsbury made a winning start to life in the top flight with a convincing 173-run victory over Knowle & Dorridge. It was always going to be tough for the visitors as the Division Two champions put on a hefty 154 for the first wicket before George Hargrave was caught by George Baines off the bowling of Nick James for 91 made from 112 balls including two 6s.
Fellow opener Peter Clark hit 80 before he was clean bowled by Freddie Fowler who also claimed the wicket of big-hitting Will Parton whose 50 came off just 42 balls.
At the end of their 50 overs, Shrewsbury had reached 287/5 with Neil Pinner (2-47) the pick of the K&D bowlers. In reply, the visitors struggled to deal with the bowling of Finn Jones who sliced through the top order taking 3-26 from five overs.
They never really recovered and skipper Oliver Currill (28) and Fowler (20) were the only batsmen to trouble the scorers on their way to 114 all out. Sam Whitney (3-17) also impressed with the ball as did Lewis Evans (2-13). Fellow promoted side Harborne also won in style, beating hosts Himley by 99 runs.
Indian import Kshitiz Sharma led the way for the visitors with 61 to which opener Matt James added 44 while Himley’s Jamie Turner took 4-25 from his eight overs as the visitors posted 208-9. The South Staffordshire side were never in contention against some tidy bowling, the chief wicket-takers being Tom Arnold (3-16) and George Land (3-36), and were skittled for 109.
There was a surprise defeat for reigning champions Smethwick who lost at home to Barnt Green by seven wickets. Put into bat, an impressive 118 off 76 balls from newly-returned Indian ace Deepak Khatri helped the Black Country side to 227 all out but it was not enough with the visitors reaching their target with more than half of their overs in hand. A superb 154-run first-wicket stand was key with Ed Pollock and Henry Cullen wasting little time. Pollock smashed 107 off just 56 balls with his opening partner scoring 81 off 50 as Barnt Green rocketed to 231-3.
There were also plenty of runs elsewhere in the top division with Halesowen chalking up 300 on their way to a 153-run victory at Berkswell where Simon Gregory top scored with 76 and there was a half-century for Alexei Kervezee (50). Theo Wylie claimed 4-50 from ten overs. Berkswell were in trouble early on at 33-2 and were all out for 147, their highest score coming Photo from Callum Bennett (28).
Photo Credit: David Peters
Barnards Green were the day’s leading run-makers, hitting 305/5 before dismissing Moseley for 213. Oliver Halion (94) and skipper Ryan Tongue (91) led the way with Chris Steele (4-57) and Ben Clarke (3-34) then impressing with the ball. Wolverhampton just edged out Ombersley in the other match, reaching their target with eight balls to spare. Nick Hammond’s 70 helped the Worcestershire side to 227-6 before an unbeaten 78 from new signing Reeve Evitts guided the home side to 230-4.
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Division Two
There was plenty of drama in Division Two with West Bromwich Dartmouth beating newboys Handsworth by four runs while Stourbridge beat Shifnal by just two runs. Dartmouth batted first and hit an impressive 309-7 helped by Ismail Mohammed’s 111 off 83 balls which included six 6s. In reply, Handsworth skipper Montcin Hodge (73) provided the perfect foundation with Rohel Peters adding a useful 61.
Wickets continued to fall and although Imran Tariq was unbeaten on 50 at the end, his half-century taking just 20 balls, they finished just shy of their target.
A half-century from Dominic O’Reilly (58) helped Stourbridge to 230 all out and when Shifnal slumped to 14-2, it looked like being a walk in the park for the Black Country outfit. Rahul Kaushal (61) and Charlie Home (57) had other ideas though and put on 90 for the next wicket with Jack Twigger scoring an unbeaten 64 but it was not enough to stop their hosts from winning by two runs. Dorridge was the place for both runs and drama with the home side finally seeing off visitors Old Hill after some nerve-jangling moments.
Old Hill were reeling at 14-2 and then 79-4 before a 239-run partnership between Pakistani pro Saad Naseem (152no) and Suraj Chauhan (80) lifted them to 318-4 at the close. Dorridge made steady progress in chasing down the runs led by Trinidadian Jeremy Solozano’s 90.
They had looked safely on track until Bilal Hassan caused chaos for the lower order on his way to 4-60 and they finally reached their target with one wicket in hand and with seven balls to go. An unbeaten knock of 77 from Harry Johnson was key to Kenilworth Wardens beating Kidderminster by four wickets. Out-of-retirement Keith Bell (41) also made a useful contribution as the visitors reached 241-6 at Chester Road after Kidderminster had posted 239-9, Daniel Lategan their leading scorer with 55. Tom Warner posted some of the day’s best bowling figures, capturing 5-28 from 7.4 overs to help Leamington beat Coventry & North Warwickshire by 59 runs.
The Arlington Avenue hosts made 184 led by Craig Miles’ 69 and Nathan Hooker’s 49 before Warner proved too hot for their opponents to handle as they were skittled out for 125. Marco Higgins top scored with 29. Tamworth began their campaign at Worfield and claimed the spoils with a 65-run victory over their Shropshire hosts. Put into bat, Tamworth lost an early wicket but rallied to 241-9 helped by Riley Ward (67) and Alex Cappelluti (40). Matthew Rees (3-34) was the pick of the bowlers.
Worfield made a decent start with opener Aman Hussain scoring 38 but they had no answer to the excellent bowling of all-rounder Ward who took 6-7 off his ten overs as the Shropshire lads were returned to the pavilion for 176.
CREDIT: David Lawrence @ Birmingham & District Premier Cricket League
