The switch from white ball to red ball cricket did nothing to halt Smethwick’s momentum as they cruised to a win against Shrewsbury by seven wickets at Broomfield. The Premier Division One leaders maintained their 100% record in all competitions this season after winning the toss and inviting Shrewsbury to bat. Early success came their way through Warwickshire seamer Manraj Johal whose opening spell produced four wickets by the time the total reached 40. Overseas player Gurinder Singh took the following three wickets to record figures of 3 for 35 from 17 overs before Johal returned for a second spell to mop up the tail. He took the last three wickets at a personal cost of 15 runs to finish with 7 for 50 from 14.4 overs. Apart from a stubborn 60 from Rob Foster, there was very little resistance from the visitors who were all out for 157 in 53.4 overs. Despite losing the prize wicket of Kadeer Ali with the score on 10, Smethwick made light work of the chase with Qamar Khan unbeaten on 68. It’s, still, too early to write off reigning Champions Berkswell’s chances of retaining the title but they have left themselves plenty to do during the rest of the season after they went down to a 91 run defeat at second in the table Barnt Green. Ben Chapman-Lilley hit 80 in the home side’s 207 for eight in 55 overs with former Middlesex and Leicestershire all-rounder Neil Dexter taking 3 for 42 for Berkswell. In reply, the visitors crashed to 56 for seven, then 116 all out thanks to some late hitting from Grant Thornton (34). The most successful bowler was Oxfordshire’s Robbie Shurmer with 4 for 39 but the early damage was caused by Andy Sutton (3 for 11) and Cameron Jones (2 for 44). After losing the toss and batting against Moseley, Knowle & Dorridge slid to 17 for three before Alex Phillips (80) and Sam Reddish (42) began a rescue operation by adding 88 for the fourth wicket. The late order continued the good work as K & D closed on 210 for eight from 55 overs. George Furror took 3 for 48 for Moseley who were skittled for 67, in response, with skipper Jack Grundy, returning after injury, taking 5 for 20 and Chris Cheslin taking 3 for 11.

Having lost all their first five white ball games, the switch to red ball cricket did suit Ombersley, as they powered to a nine wickets success, at home, to local rivals Kidderminster. Callum Bennett (85) and Andrew Kimberlin (65) added 129 for Kidderminster’s third wicket but the Chester Road club lost their next six wickets for 59 to finish on 229 for eight. George Panayi took 5 for 64 for Ombersley whose supporters were treated to an opening stand of 121 by Daryl Mitchell and Taylor Cornall. The latter’s dismissal for 62 brought Nick Hammond (31 not out) to the wicket but, by this time, former Worcestershire captain Mitchell was in full flow, finishing unbeaten on 135 which included 18 fours and a six from 143 balls. Ombersley’s performance made light of their early season woes and they’ll be happy to continue to climb the table in the next few weeks. Halesowen won the toss and elected to bat at Shifnal, but they were dismissed for 140 in 51.3 overs with Shifnal’s Ethan Jameson taking 5 for 34. Top scorer was Wes Griffiths with 33 but his efforts were in vain as Shifnal eased to a six wicket win in the 42nd over with solid contributions from Matthew Lamb (38), Jameson (37) and James Sookias (30 not out). The change in the colour of the ball made little difference to Kenilworth Wardens who registered the highest total of the day with 306 for seven in their local derby match with Leamington. Opener Jamie Harrison hit 47 and Henry Cullen scored 51 but, at 113 for five, there was no indication of what was to come. Cullen helped to take the score to 207 in a sixth wicket stand of 94 with skipper Andrew Leering before he was seventh out at 207 from the last ball of the 47th over. Eight overs later, by the end of the innings, the total had risen by 99 after Tommy Rex entered the arena to hammer 66 from 30 balls, hitting no less than nine sixes. He was dismissed by Dinuk De Silva from the last ball of the innings leaving Leering unbeaten on 80 from 91 balls. In the last 29 overs of the innings, Wardens added 193 to take the final score to 306 for seven. Leamington’s reply began poorly but most of their batters made a decent start before they were dismissed without going on to make a score large enough to affect the result of the match. Top scorer was Josh De Souza with 43, while Ollie Currill (42), Jon Wigley (34) and Luke De Souza (32) were all dismissed before they could make a difference. Alex Wyatt took 4 for 57 as Leamington were all out for 204, handing Wardens a victory by 102 runs, just three more than were added at the end of the home side’s innings by Leering and Rex.