In Premier Division Two, the match between West Bromwich Dartmouth and Harborne finished in a tie with both sides completing their 50 overs with identical scores of 261 for nine. Harborne batted first and Karan Bharaj top scored with 77. Former Smethwick left-arm seamer Sajid Ahmadzai, on his debut for Dartmouth, took 4 for 55, but an unbroken last wicket partnership of 30 between Dan Wright (28 not out) and George Land (22 not out) gave Harborne a good total to defend. For much of Dartmouth’s reply, this looked to be the case, but Staffordshire’s Tim Maxfield, another player making his debut for the club, had other ideas, hitting a ferocious unbeaten 103 from 71 balls to take his new side to the brink of victory. So near, yet so far for both sides who were rewarded with 16 points each for a tie. The two sides promoted into this division from the County Leagues at the end of last season were Lichfield and Worfield who met with contrasting fortunes in their first ever games at this level. Lichfield hosted Barnards Green and totalled 221 for nine from 50 overs thanks to 72 from Riley Ward with visiting spinner Josh Dickenson taking 5 for 49. At none for three, in reply, two of those wickets falling to James Wilkinson, Barnards Green were looking down the barrel before Dickenson (57) and Zain Ul-Hassan (39) came to their rescue. Ul-Hassan had, already, taken 3 for 23 in the Lichfield innings but the match-winning performance came from Wilkinson who finished with the outstanding figures of 7 for 24 as Barnards Green fell away to 169 all out after Dickenson was sixth out at 152. Worfield were, narrowly, defeated by five runs by Bromsgrove after restricting their visitors to 205 all out in 49.5 overs. Jayden Levitt, newly installed as skipper, hit 40, while Tom Parker was the most successful bowler for Worfield with 3 for 35. Will Cook (42) and Basit Zaman (41) played useful innings for Worfield before Alex Wilkinson (3 for 38) and Will Tuffin (3 for 47) stepped in to bowl them out for 200, a fine effort after they had slipped to 137 for seven following Cook’s dismissal.

Relegated from Division One at the end of last season, Walsall’s hopes of an early confidence boosting victory were dashed by Bridgnorth who ran out 29 run winners after scoring 222 for eight after being invited to bat first. Staffordshire all-rounder Michael Hill top scored with 53 with former Warwickshire left-arm spinner Sunny Singh taking 4 for 28 for Walsall. The early dismissal of Chris Benjamin was a blow from which Walsall never recovered despite a late flurry from Luke Stynes (33) and Ravan Chahal (30). Shropshire’s Sam Whitney took 3 for 32 with Walsall all out for 193 and facing another tough season ahead. There was a tight finish at Himley where the home side overcame Wem by four wickets with one ball remaining. Wem’s total of 229 for nine was built around a 142-run partnership for the fifth wicket between Martyn Davies (66) and Graham Wagg (60) with opening bowlers Saul Anstey (4 for 40) and Jamie Turner (3 for 50) picking up the bulk of the wickets for Himley. Former Glamorgan and Derbyshire man Wagg took 3 for 36 for his new club but an unbeaten 110 from Oliver Cox saw Himley to victory after skipper Ollie Westbury had scored 40 at the top of the order. Wolverhampton’s visit to Dorridge ended in a seven-wicket defeat after the visitors were skittled for 94 in 32.2 overs. Perry Derrick (4 for 31) and the evergreen Herefordshire all-rounder David Ball (3 for 15) ran through the top and middle order leaving skipper Joe Dodd to steer his side to a comfortable victory with an unbeaten 36. Aqab Ahmed took all three Dorridge wickets for 25.