Kadeer Ali's second century in 8 days

Shrewsbury’s fading hopes of retaining the Premier Division crown suffered another blow when they went down to a six wicket defeat to leaders Barnt Green, who, now, lead the table by 22 points at the half–way stage of the season. Paul Donaldson (35) and Joe Leach (33) were the best of the batsmen for Shrewsbury, while Nick Powell (4 for 29) and Stephen Bevan (3 for 36) wrapped up the innings for 143.

An unbroken 63 from Barnt Green’s Nathan Newport put an end to a lean personal spell with Rob Foster taking 3 for 35 for Shrewsbury. Already the possessor of the highest individual score of the season, with an innings of 156, against Knowle & Dorridge, Christiaan Jonker improved that with a brutal 169 for Walsall, against West Bromwich Dartmouth, but he, still, ended up on the losing side as Dartmouth sneaked home with one ball to spare at Sandwell Park. Thanks to Jonker, Walsall made 293 for nine, with Aatif Ali taking 4 for 84 but cousin Kadeer Ali (100) with his second century in eight days, Jeet Raval (72) and Rawlston Tappin (46) secured a three wicket victory with Walsall skipper Paul Byrne finishing with 4 for 95.

Dartmouth move up to second place after Knowle & Dorridge went down to a five wicket defeat at Himley. The Warwickshire outfit made 224 with Jamie Spires top scoring with 47 before Greg Wright’s 90 took Himley up to third place, 10 points in front of K & D. At the other end of the table, Smethwick continue to prop up the rest after they slumped to their seventh defeat of the season to Kidderminster Victoria. Smethwick stumbled their way to 197 for five with Mo Sheikh unbeaten on 70 and useful contributions from Faisal Shahid (60) and Waqar Ahmed (40) but Kiddi raced to an eight wicket win after Jonathan Wright (92 not out) and Neil Pinner (72 not out) made hay against the weakest bowling attack in the top flight.

Fellow strugglers Wolverhampton boosted their survival hopes with an easy six wicket success against Leamington Spa who were dismissed for 167 after seamers Johan Bothma (5 for 44) and Chris Russell (4 for 48) took advantage of a helpful wicket. Lee Hopkins hit 40 for Leamington but an unbeaten 68 from Sundeep Patel eased Wolverhampton to a much needed victory. Inconsistent Moseley crashed to a six wicket defeat at Wellington after the Shropshire side dismissed the visitors for 124. Huw Jones (49) top scored for Moseley, while Wendell Wagner picked up 3 for 24 for Wellington. In reply, Wellington cruised to victory thanks to James Cameron (32) and Mark Downes (27 not out) with Moseley’s Fred Eburah finishing with 3 for 43