Seamer Junaid Iqbal grabbed the headlines as Stourport claimed a comfortable seven-wicket win at Fordhouses in the opening round of play-off action.

After the hosts opted to bat first Iqbal (4-33) and new-ball partner Ryan Derrick (2-26) (both pictured) soon made significant inroads through a disciplined display of medium-pace bowling.

They exploited some typical September seam movement to good enough effect that Fordhouses slumped to 40/5 in the twelfth over.

And with Shebi Iqbal and Naeem Abbas then grabbing two wickets apiece, the South Staffordshire County League winners were back in the pavilion in the 39^th over with just 112 on the board.

This left Fordhouses needing early wickets and when both Stourport openers were gone for 32 the home side had a glimmer of hope.

But a useful third-wicket stand of 62 between visiting skipper Charlie Foley (43no) and South African pro Bonga Makaka (32) then steadied the ship before Sam Beadsworth joined his captain to see Stourport home in the 28^th over.

A brilliant unbeaten 136 from Zia Ul Haq Parwani steered Aston Manor to an exciting six-wicket home win over Wellington.

Chasing Wellington’s challenging 312/8 in 49 overs, following a brief rain delay during the visitors’ innings, Manor charged to the finishing line with more than two overs remaining.

Openers Qundeel Haider (42) and Lovish Dar (57) got the chase away to a good start by adding 79 in 14.2 overs before Parwani took centre stage in the second half of the innings.

He struck 14 fours and two sixes while passing 100 from 91 balls before going on to 136no from 112 balls while adding 70 with Shakeel Janjua (21no).

At 74/4 in the 20^th over Wellington earlier seemed unlikely to post a big total but their middle and lower order then changed the momentum of the innings.

Wicket-keeper Morgan Ward led the charge by hitting eight sixes in an excellent 80-ball 88 while adding 129 with sixth-wicket partner David Laird who also cleared the ropes four times while making 52 from 43 balls.

And after a flurry of wickets, enough time remained for Hugh Morris to smash an unbeaten 52 from 39 balls – including a further four sixes.

Seamers Waqar Dad and Akeel Haider both claimed a couple of early wickets for Aston Manor.