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Weekly Review - Matches played on 28th June 2003 30/06/2003 - Nick Archer
Premier Division Wellington’s surge to the top of the table continued with a win against understrength Old Hill, although Walsall kept the Shropshire side within their sights with a win of their own, against lowly Shrewsbury. Moseley’s first win of the season, against third placed, Knowle & Dorridge, lifted themselves clear of the bottom two, but left K & D 20 points adrift of Walsall, in second place, and a further 10 points behind Wellington, whose current good form shows no sign of faltering. At Haden Hill, Wellington batted first, and, although the League’s leading batsman, Chris Rogers, was dismissed early on, they played their way to 215 for 7, in 55 overs. Skipper Gavin Byram starred with 93 and he was well supported by Chris Martin (37). With three regulars, Steve Adshead, Kadeer Ali and Shaftab Khalid playing for Worcestershire against Glamorgan, this total was always going to test Old Hill but after Harshad Patel (31) had been dismissed, the rest of the batsmen capitulated to 109 all out, Nick Clewley taking 4 for 30. At Gorway, Walsall sneaked a seven run victory against Shrewsbury after they were dismissed for 168. Paul Baker top scored with 44 against a tight attack, for whom young leg-spinner James Gale took 3 for 28. Jon Anders (45) appeared to have secured Shrewsbury’s second win of the season but Paul Wicker (7 for 38) read a different script as the relegation threatened side fell agonisingly short of a much needed win. After last week’s fireworks against Halesowen, K & D returned to earth with a bump, when they were beaten at Moseley by 2 wickets. Ian Westwood (4 for 47) played the major role as K & D were all out for 155 but Moseley owed most to Stuart Eustace, who remained undefeated on 90, as they scraped their way to a first win of the season. In the mid-table battle at Himley, Gareth Williams returned the remarkable figures of 6 for 4, as Halesowen skittled the home side for 82. Halesowen lost four early wickets of their own but Dave Manning (31 not out) and Ryan Nelson (28 not out) saw their side to a win which takes them to the fringe of the promotion race, when much will depend on their clash, next week, with Barnt Green, who emerged with a four wicket win from their match against bottom club, Wolverhampton. Having struggled to 166 for 8, Wolverhampton took 5 early wickets before Gavin Haynes (40), then Matt Dallaway (52 not out) took Barnt Green to a win which also puts them in position to make a challenge for the title in the second half of the season. Duncan Lampitt had top scored for Wolves with 45 but the left arm spin of Richard Illingworth (4 for 55) and Lyndon Jones (4 for 59) restricted them to a modest total. Coventry & N.W. are still precariously placed near the relegation trapdoor despite a winning draw against Cannock. Nathan Dodd (48) and Sarfraz Pathan (47) scored more than half of Cov’s total of 183 for 9 but the Cannock batsmen found life extremely difficult and crawled to 113 for 8, in reply. Mark Lilley took 4 for 34 and Steve Ogrizovic took 3 for 18 but Cannock avoided defeat thanks to an unbroken ninth wicket stand of 50 between Richard Hewitt and Guy Seaton Division One Victories by Leamington, Wroxeter & Uppington and Water Orton and defeats for Harborne and W.B. Dartmouth mean that 8 points separate first and fifth places in Division One. Shitansu Kotak produced the individual performance of the day, taking 8 for 81 for Kenilworth Wardens, as they restricted leaders Harborne to 194 for 9. He then scored 99 not out as Wardens cruised to victory by 7 wickets with more then two overs to spare. Second placed W.B. Dartmouth were walloped by Leamington by 124 runs and the South Warwickshire side have now moved into second place, themselves, while Dartmouth have slipped to fourth. After a slow start to the innings, Leamington eventually reached 214 for 4, thanks to Sarel Burger (81) and a whirlwind 51 not out by Rob Williams, in just 29 balls. In the Dartmouth innings, Burger (6 for 44) and Klopper (4 for 36) bowled unchanged as the home side crashed to 90 all out. The two sides are now separated in the table by Wroxeter & Uppington, and their crushing 9 wicket victory at Kidderminster is described in Match of the Day (See News Page 107). Bromsgrove defeated Stratford-upon- Avon by 4 wickets in a mid-table battle at St. Godwald’s Park. Neil Humphrey scored 39 for Stratford but their total of 167 for 9 was not likely to test many sides in this Division. Kish Patel (5 for 50) and Jon Farrow (3 for 40) did the damage for Bromsgrove with the ball but Nick Reade (54), Ross Liddell (49) and Nick Davies (39) saw the home side to a win despite a middle order slump when victory was within sight. Bottom club Aston Unity notched up their first win of the season, at Worcester, to spark hopes of a revival in the second half of the season. 16 year old Nick James steered Unity to 198 all out, despite the efforts of James Wagstaff ( 4 for 51), which was 48 too many, as Worcester slumped to 150 all out, despite being given a good start by Daryl Mitchell (57). Skipper Ashfak Hussain lead by example for Unity, with 6 for 52. Sutton Coldfield remain in peril in the bottom two, after a four wicket defeat at Water Orton, who eased past Sutton’s inadequate total of 184 for 6 with 6 wickets of their own to spare. Victor Walker-Randall (78), Richard Dandy (45) and Jon Miller (43 not out) scored nearly all the runs for Sutton but an unbroken fifth wicket stand between Paul Bedford (53 not out) and Michael Ponter (42 not out) secured Water Orton a victory which leaves them handily placed in fifth position, eight points behind leaders Harborne. Division Two (East) Tamworth’s opening bowler, Adam Barnacle, tops the bill, this week, after taking 10 for 68 in his club’s six wicket win against Bedworth. Barnacle’s feat, rarely achieved at any level of cricket, has taken Tamworth 10 points clear at the top of the table, after Bedworth were dismissed for 105. Gary Taylor (44 not out) carried his bat for Tamworth to set his side up nicely for their Challenge Cup semi-final against Studley, on Wednesday. Studley also prepared well with a four wicket win over Kings Heath. Stuart Shephard (103 not out) and Dave Joyce (75) batted superbly for The Monarchs but the other batsmen were unable to cope with Stuart Harris, who took 8 for 112 in a marathon 24 over spell. Although Chris Hunt took 4 for 57 for Kings Heath, Studley romped home in 49.4 overs, thanks to Adrian Smith (76), Harris (40 not out) and Brandon Kelso (37). Walmley have moved into second place, following an easy 7 wicket win at Highway, who were all out for 155. Andy Gillies scored 70 for Highway but Tariq Mohammed (68) and Peter Deakin (38 not out) made sure that Walmley kept up their challenge for the title. Blossomfield beat Attock by 17 runs to move ahead of the Birmingham side in the table, by virtue of this result. Batting first, Bloss made 217 for 9, Aussie Dan Davies scoring 48. Amjad Zaman took 4 for 58 for Attock but the best bowling of the match came from Bloss seamer Andy Greenwood, who took 5 for 66, as Attock were dismissed for 200. Hassan Shah (43) and Ruwait Khan (80) set up Attock for victory with a good stand for the second wicket but Greenwood and Ed Harris (3 for 45) did the job for Bloss. In the clash between two promoted teams, Coleshill had the better of the draw against Dorridge, who made 175 for 8 in reply to their visitors impressive total of 240 for 9. Aqsab Ali (89) top scored for Coleshill and Abdul Hafeez took 4 for 33 for Dorridge. Hafeez also scored 63 for Dorridge to complete a successful match but only Greg Pearson (41) of the other batsmen played an innings of substance as Laeq-ur-Rehman took 4 for 70 for Coleshill. Old Edwardians woes continue at the foot of the table after they were dismissed for 112 by Moseley Ashfield. Waleed Butt took 4 for 16 and Mike Huckle returned the remarkable figures of 4 for 2 before he smashed 43 not out in Ashfield’s easy 8 wicket victory. Division Two (West) The situation at the top of this Division remains unchanged after the top three teams, Smethwick, Shifnal and Fordhouses all recorded victories. Smethwick defeated Wednesbury by 80 runs after Imran Jamiel (82) had top scored in their total of 226 for 6. Wednesbury’s reply was lead by Matt Leddin (69) but once he was dismissed, his side had no answer to Andy Bryan (3 for 31) and Aurol Kirnon (3 for 32) and fell away to 146 all out. Shifnal hammered struggling Penkridge by 121 runs after Anthony Parker (74 not out) and Jason Weaver (50) took them to 222 for 6, despite the efforts of Toby Morrell (4 for 59). Tony Parton (5 for 34) and James Packman (4 for 27) then took over, as Penkridge crashed to 101 all out. Fordhouses easily beat bottom club, Stourbridge, by 8 wickets after they dismissed the fallen giants for 140. Imran Jamshed (5 for 48) and Shafiq Ahmed (4 for 48) showed their class with the ball before Zimbabwean, Conan Brewer (91 not out) smashed Fordhouses to victory in just 24.2 overs. In a high scoring match at Beacon, Pelsall took the honours with 7.3 overs to spare, after successfully chasing down the home side’s total of 242 for 8. Mike Smith (69) and Terry Billings (56) scored half-centuries for Beacon but it was the all-round talents of Jason Kerr which swung the match for Pelsall. The Derbyshire player took 3 for 25, then scored exactly 100, his second century in three weeks, to race Pelsall to a win which keeps them in the top half of the table. In an extraordinary match at Worcester, Old Elizabethans maintained their recent form with a 10 wicket win against hapless Bridgnorth, who were all out for 42, Steve May taking 5 for 7. OE’s took just 4.5 overs to wrap up 20 points as the ball, briefly, disappeared to all parts. Penn earned a welcome win at Redditch, which takes them well clear of the relegation zone. Redditch struggled to 145 all out, but did not have it all their own way, batting second, losing 8 wickets before victory was achieved. Dan Protherough scored 47, for Redditch, on a day for bowlers, and team mate Dan Friedrich (5 for 47) returned the best figures but Richard Norgrove (4 for 58) and Ian O’Sullivan (36) turned the game Penn’s way.