Division One

Barnards Green’s Jakob Bhula (pictured) delivered the batting performance of the season so far when he savaged the West Bromwich Dartmouth attack for a blistering 217.

The Kiwi star, who blasted no fewer than 18 sixes in his 144-ball onslaught, added 200 with skipper Ryan Tongue (77) then a further 129 with Mahaz Ahmed who contributed just 27 to their second-wicket alliance.

Tongue put Dartmouth out of their misery by declaring five overs early with the scoreboard showing 386 for three in the hope of forcing a win, only for some old school defiance from Danny Cox and Brinder Phagura to see the hosts through 60 overs to a losing draw at 154 for eight despite George Rhodes claiming 3-38.

The day’s best storyline was found at Station Road where Knowle & Dorridge stayed at the top of the table with a final-over three wicket win over Kenilworth Wardens.

Harry Johnson made 97 for the visitors for whom Eitan Litvin (67) also made a useful contribution to leave the hosts chasing 232.

Veteran seamers Chris Cheslin and David Ball shared six wickets for James Middleton’s team before Ollie Currill and Hamza Shaikh made half-centuries in a run chase which was eventually concluded from the penultimate ball.

The headlines were grabbed, however, by 15-year-old Wardens’ left-arm spinner Jack Pidgeon whose 5-79 were all top-six batters, thus following in the sizeable league cricket footsteps of his grandfather Tom and father Mark.

Smethwick remain K&D’s nearest challengers following their five wicket home win over Wolverhampton.

Tom Fell (63) and Joe Stanley (49) steered the visitors to 233 for nine despite the best efforts of Yasir Ali who claimed 4-59 for the hosts.

Smethwick responded with a consistent batting effort in which Isaac Mohammed played the anchor role with 66. Bilal Shafayat (63) then set the platform from which Indian pro Deepak Khatri smashed an unbeaten 40-ball 74 that saw his team home in the 51^st over.

Former Worcestershire seamer Gareth Andrew grabbed 4-32 and George Panayi took 3-48 as Ombersley registered a three wicket win in a low-scoring contest at Halesowen.

Opener Matt Pardoe made 51 for Halesowen who otherwise struggled to 109 all out in the 45^th over.

Eddie Rhodes then claimed three wickets and when Ombersley were 40 for five a shock was on the cards until Nathan Bowley dug in two hours for the unbeaten 35 that clinched the spoils.

Batting was also far from straightforward at Himley where Barnt Green moved up to fourth with a 43-run win.

Ben Chapman-Lilley batted through the visitors’ innings for an unbeaten 163-ball 85 and with his opening partner Ed Pollock contributing a vividly contrasting 47-ball 61 Himley were left to chase 192.

Graeme White (5-42) and Gamindu Kanishka (4-35) starred with the ball for the hosts and wicket-keeper Navindu Vithanage then played the main part in their response while making 83.

However, he received precious little support against Lloyd Pope (4-47) and Robbie Shurmer (3-19) and as a result the chase eventually ended at 149 all out.

Hampshire all-rounder Keith Barker hammered 96 from just 53 balls for Moseley at Berkswell but still finished on the wrong end of a 118-run defeat.

Barker got the visitors’ quest for 262 off to a flying start but in an innings played on fast-forward, once he was out in the 15^th over at 126 for seven Moseley’s tail soon folded to 143 all out against a home attack in which Grant Thornton took 4-38 and Kamran Khanna 3-15.

Skipper Neil Dexter and Callum Bennett had earlier passed 50 for Berkswell while Moseley captain Usman Awan took 4-32 and Awais Mohammed 4-100.

Division Two

Worcestershire’s Joe Leach made an excellent 108 for table-topping Shrewsbury who claimed an emphatic 160-run home win over Kidderminster.

With George Hargrave adding 67 the hosts reached 277 before being bowled out from the final ball of their 55 overs by a visiting attack in which another Pear, Ben Gibbon, claimed 4-59.

Peter Clark then tore through Kiddy’s response to finish with 5-33 as the visitors subsided to 117 all out in the 49^th over.

Harborne are only eight points behind the Shrews following a 26-run home win over Tamworth in a low-scoring game.

Opener Jamie Harris (37) top-scored for the hosts who did well to scramble from 95 for eight to 132 all out against a Tamworth attack in which Ed Smith ended with the magnificent figures of 7-48.

At 62 for three Tamworth were then favourites but once Jacob Flower was run out for 43 the visitors’ lower order collapsed to 106 all out in the 35^th over against Mike Bevan (4-49).

Dorridge moved up to third place by claiming a six wicket win at Leamington who slip to eleventh as a result.

Sri Lankan pro Kalana Perera continued to impress by claiming 3-26 for the visitors and despite test star Shane Dowrich’s 42 Spa were bundled out in the 42^nd over for 126. With Daniyal Khan 62 not out Dorridge then cruised to the finishing line in the 41^st over.

Worfield now lie fourth after beating Wellington by three wickets at Davenport Park in the latest Shropshire derby.

The visitors recovery from 19 for four to 124 all out owed much to Matt Simmonds whose composed unbeaten 71 made in nearly two-and-a-half hours dominated the innings.

Ben Parker and Hanro Swanepoel shared six wickets for Worfield and when their team’s response was then on the rocks at 102 for seven following the dismissal of Warwickshire’s Will Rhodes for 51, the same pair combined with the bat to steer them home.

Shropshire clubs book-end the second division with suspension-hit Bridgnorth still winless at the foot of the table following a 210-run reverse at the hands of visiting Coventry & North Warwickshire.

Akshay Patel cracked nine sixes and nine boundaries for CNW in a thrilling unbeaten 62-ball 112 and with Vik Sodhi (59) and Jay Bista (84) also in good form the visitors posted 320 for four in 55 overs.

Reuben Majithia then grabbed 4-26 as Bridgnorth were bowled out in 38 overs for 110.

Andre Bradford made a fine 133 for Shifnal and with Ethan Jamieson adding 64 Old Hill were set 290 to win at Haden Hill.

A slightly odd-looking response then crawled to 25 for two in the 17^th over before home skipper Bilal Hassan hit six sixes in an excellent 107 not out.

At the other end Hasan Ahmed batted through the innings for an unbeaten 58 as the home side settled for a losing draw at 188 for two.