Division One
The inclusion of home grown Worcestershire players Brett D’Oliveira and Jack Haynes sparked Ombersley to a six wicket win over Barnt Green that may prove vital in the battle to avoid the drop.
Another Pears employee Henry Cullen who top-scored for the visitors with 66 added 105 with opening partner Ben Chapman-Lilley (37) but with D’Oliveira claiming 2-38 Barnt Green were contained to 218-9.
The Worcestershire theme continued as Olly Cox made 54 from the top of the home order before skipper Nick Hammond finished the job off with an unbeaten 70.
This fourth win of the season lifts Ombersley out of the relegation zone where they are replaced by Kenilworth Wardens who were on the wrong end of a 65-run verdict at Moseley.
Abraash Khan made 82 for the hosts but with six wickets shared between Tommy Rex and Freddie Fowler, Moseley were bowled out for 214 in the 44th over.
However, this proved more than enough when Wardens collapsed from a promising 81-1 to 149 all out in the 38th over with experienced home skipper Usman Awan’s off-spin doing the damage with 5-33.
Despite this win, fourth-bottom Moseley who are 22 points above the drop zone are not yet safe and the tightly-bunched lower regions of the table mean everyone including bottom-placed West Bromwich Dartmouth retain survival hopes.
Himley left Sandwell Park with a 32-run win built around Ollie Walker’s excellent 110-ball 89. This enabled the visitors to post 189 and with Walker and James Lunn then grabbing four wickets apiece Dartmouth were 96-9 before Shozair Ali blasted 61 from 48 balls to see his team to 157 all out.
This win took Himley to third place, four points behind Halesowen who completed a comfortable seven wicket home win over Knowle & Dorridge.
James Rudge (4-42) made useful inroads with the ball for the hosts so despite Neil Pinner’s 62 K&D required lower-order runs from Vidhan Iyer and acting captain Chris Cheslin to get them to 206.
A trio of early Ollie Currill wickets then raised visiting hopes only for Simon Gregory to dash them with a brilliant unbeaten 83-ball 120 containing 18 boundaries and four sixes that sped Halesowen to their target in just 33.4 overs.
Smethwick are 52 points clear at the top of the table but their latest three wicket win at Berkswell was far from the straightforward affair that seemed likely when the hosts were 93-7.
Kamran Khanna manufactured something of a recovery with an aggressive 43no to leave Smethwick chasing 185, and despite Deepak Khatri’s 50 the visitors were under pressure at 139-6 before Bilal Shafayat dug in for an unbeaten 73-ball 30 that edged his team to the winning post
Tom Fell made an excellent 119 for Wolverhampton who as a result set hosts Barnards Green 286. After Jakob Bhula lashed a quickfire 52, home captain Ryan Tongue responded to Fell’s earlier effort with an even-time 104 but the hosts then lost their last seven wickets for 58 against a Wolves attack in which Charles Jackson finished with 5-40 to slip to 257 all out and a 29-run defeat.
Division Two
With the bottom four facing each other it was very much moving day in Division Two and it is Leamington and Kidderminster who are now breathing easier following wins over Bridgnorth and Wellington respectively.
Bridgnorth’s situation – 61 points from safety at the foot of the table – now appears hopeless after they were bundled out for 70 in just 14.2 overs in response to Spa’s substantial 326-6.
A 209-run fourth-wicket stand between Shane Dowrich (106) and George Maddy (118) provided substance to Leamington’s batting efforts and Maddy went on to claim four catches behind the stumps as Warwickshire’s Craig Miles tore through the home batting to finish with 6-32.
Kidderminster used eight bowlers against Wellington and the visitors were reduced to 152-8 by Ben Jones (4-47) before their tail wagged to good enough effect to leave the Carpet Men chasing 210.
Dan Lategan (pictured) then made 83 for Kiddy but the visitors’ attack chipped away and the home side were eventually indebted to Nathan Jukes whose breezy 37no saw them to a three wicket success with an over remaining.
One more win should secure Birmingham Premier League cricket for Kidderminster next season while Leamington – who face title-chasing Harborne and Shrewsbury over the Bank Holiday weekend – now have a 30-point cushion between themselves and the county league trapdoor.
Harborne remain at the top of the table following a 33-run home win over Worfield that seemed extremely unlikely when they were bowled out for 144 at usually batting-friendly Old Church Road.
Tejas Wagle top-scored for the hosts with 69 but it was Worfield’s Hanro Swanepoel who caught the eye before the break by claiming 5-20.
When the response reached 106-5 the visitors must have fancied their chances before their last five wickets fell for five runs in 20 deliveries to leave them 111 all out. George Land and Ollie Davidson shared six wickets for Tom Arnold’s league leaders.
Shrewsbury remain just five points behind the pacesetters after they claimed a three-run win from an amazing game against Old Hill.
Six visiting batters passed 20 but it was Llyr Thomas (72) and Dan Humes (64 from 43 balls) who went on and as a result the Black Country outfit were left to chase a substantial 300 to win.
Hasan Ahmed led the Old Hill response with his second unbeaten ton in as many weeks – but once again he finished on the losing side despite being 114 not out when his team fell three runs short of the 13 needed from the final over at 296-9.
Ethan Jamieson’s 91 plus an unbeaten 78 from Andre Bradford and Theo Wylie’s 58 steered Shifnal to an excellent six wicket win at Coventry & North Warwickshire.
Chasing 273 the visitors raced home with 15 balls remaining to tighten their grip on third place in the table. Coventry opener Will Iles had previously dominated the first innings by making 127 from 149 balls.
Half-centuries from Jacob Flower plus the in-form Jason Jakeman set Tamworth on their way to a 13-run home win over Dorridge. Chasing 237, a fine second spell from James Wilkinson who finished with 5-53 saw the visitors bowled out for 224
