Premier Division Two Review 6th August

Author: Nick Archer
Date: 06/08/2022

Premier Division Two Review 6th August

Author: Nick Archer
Date: 06/08/2022

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Wolverhampton’s 39 run win over West Bromwich Dartmouth maintains their lead at the top of the Premier Division Two table, despite victories for their two closest challengers, Harborne and Barnards Green. Although they play both of those clubs before the season ends, three more victories from their final five matches will see them promoted to the top tier for the 2023 season. Harborne and Barnards Green are tied in second place, 44 points behind Wolverhampton but Harborne will take precedence at the end of the season, if nothing changes, due to the superior number of points they have obtained during the two matches between the clubs earlier in the season. Locked together on the number of wins (eight) they have gained, Harborne earned 24 points from the two matches and Barnards Green took 23 points. At Sandwell Park, Wolverhampton piled up 314 for three in 50 overs after a second wicket stand of 233 by Warrick Fynn (151 not out) and Tom Fell (107). Fynn faced 160 balls and hit 20 boundaries, while Fell struck 14 fours and a six. Ramanjot Jaswal (31) helped Fynn to put on 72 for the first wicket to set the game up for Wolverhampton. The initial response from Dartmouth was frail, as they crumbled to 77 for five but a sixth wicket stand of 115 between Ibbadat Thaman (76) and Yousuf Khalil (59) brought them back into the game. Shahzeb Raja, then, hit 40 but Dartmouth were, eventually, all out for 275 in the 48th over with Brad Fallon the pick of the Wolverhampton bowlers with 3 for 36. Swapnil Gugale’s 169, from 124 balls, took Harborne up to 353 for eight, in 50 overs, against Bromsgrove. Jimmy Clifford weighed in with 61 with Freddie Fallows taking 3 for 71 for the visitors. The Bromsgrove response was built around a third wicket stand of 123 between Alex Milton (132) and Connor Smith (73) and, while they were together, an unlikely away win looked possible. Smith’s dismissal left Milton with too much to do and his departure at 291 for eight signalled the end. Bromsgrove were all out for 310 from 48 overs with Jasper Davidson taking 3 for 41 for Harborne. Barnards Green travelled to bottom of the table Wem and came away with an easy nine wicket win after the home side were all out for 131. Returning after a lengthy absence, due to injury, Worcestershire’s Josh Tongue took 3 for 21 for Barnards Green with Graham Wagg the top scorer for Wem with 50. An unbeaten 40 from George Rhodes guided Barnards Green to victory with support from Ryan Tongue (36) and Zain Ul-Hassan (26 not out).

At the other end of the table, the battle to avoid relegation between Walsall and Worfield continues after both clubs were, soundly, beaten by Dorridge and Himley. Walsall conceded 297 for five to Dorridge, an innings that featured a third wicket stand of 167 by Daniyal Khan (92) and Ben Shepperson (96). Ashish Chakrapani (43) helped Khan to put on an opening stand of 92 before Shepperson, narrowly, failed to complete the rare feat of two centuries against the same club during a season. Ravan Chahal (3 for 50) emerged with credit for Walsall, but their flimsy bowling attack was emphasised by the use of seven different bowlers. Their batting was little better, collapsing to 140 all out, with Safian Mir taking three cheap wickets for eight towards the end of the innings. Although Worfield lost to Himley by 81 runs, they gained two points on Walsall and cut the gap between the clubs to 10 points. Half-centuries by Ollie Walker (70), Bilal Hussain (60), James Lunn (58) and Jeevan Klair (53 not out) took Himley to 288 for five in 50 overs. Like Walsall, Worfield, also, used seven bowlers but they showed more depth with the bat before falling to 207 all out in the 40th over. At 82 for six, they were boosted by a seventh wicket stand of 87 by Joseph Arnold (53) and Tom Pickerill (48) but, apart from 35 from Basit Zaman, the rest of the Worfield line-up struggled against Walker (3 for 27) and Graeme White (3 for 34). The match between Worfield and Walsall, on the penultimate weekend of the season, is looking, increasingly, likely to determine which side goes down with Wem. Lichfield are still in a great position to take advantage of any slip ups by Harborne and Barnards Green following a two wicket win against Bridgnorth. Michael Hill (107) was the only visiting batter to master Brinder Phagura as his former Staffordshire team-mate produced an excellent spell of 4 for 13 to send Bridgnorth crashing to 204 all out in 47.1 overs. In reply, consistent middle-order batting from Rich Taylor-Tibbott, Stuart Fielding, Riley Ward and Phagura, who all scored 30’s took Lichfield to the brink of victory, but it needed cool heads to steer Lichfield to victory after they lost three wickets between 180 and 197.