Division One

A brilliant captain’s innings from Nick Hammond steered Ombersley to a convincing 89-run win over fellow strugglers Kenilworth Wardens which delivered a huge boost to his team’s top-flight survival hopes.

With only two games to play, this win pushes the Worcestershire outfit 20 points ahead of their relegation rivals into a position where another success next Saturday over already-relegated West Bromwich Dartmouth almost certainly sentences Wardens to the drop.

At 129-6 on a good pitch Ombersley were struggling until last week’s hero George Panayi joined his captain in what may prove to be a season-saving seventh-wicket stand that added 109 in 16 overs.

Panayi made an impressive even-time 57 but it was Hammond whose superb unbeaten 120 containing 16 boundaries and a six that really turned things around for the hosts.

This left Wardens chasing 259 and by the time they had 16 on the board Panayi had removed both their openers (pictured).

Harry Johnson (47) and Levi Gekis (48) restored hope for the visitors with a third-wicket stand worth 97 only for their last eight wickets to crash for just 57 against Nathan Bowley (4-28) and Ishaan Arora (3-42).

Dartmouth return to Division Two just 12 months after leaving it as champions following their 28-run home defeat to local rivals Wolverhampton.

Ramanjot Jaswal led the way for the visitors with an excellent 84 and useful runs from ‘keeper Bhargav Patel (42) meant despite Cameron Jones finishing with 5-56 the hosts required 263.

Five home batters then got past 25 but none went beyond Brinder Phagura’s 44 as Dartmouth were bowled out for 235 in the 49^th over.

Halesowen are in a strong position to clinch the runners-up spot after their top-order blasted them to a 71-run home win over champions Smethwick.

Openers Alexei Kervezee (101 from 79 balls) and Matt Pardoe (72) added 183, then after both fell in quick succession Chris Whittock made 64no to shepherd the remainder of the order to a sizeable 327-8.

Bilal Shafayat celebrated a rare outing with the ball by claiming three wickets for the visitors and he was also one of six middle-order batters who after the break then passed 24.

However, only Chris Benjamin made it to a half-century against a home attack in which Pardoe completed a fine match by claiming 5-28 as Smethwick were bowled out for 256.

Barnards Green remain in third after a Ryan Tongue-inspired three-wicket home win over Moseley.

Chasing 227, a second-wicket stand worth 129 between Tongue (80) and Oliver Halion (55) seemed to have put Barnards well on their way to a comfortable win only for six wickets to crash for 35 against the in-form Usman Awan (3-24).

However, Worcestershire under-18 spinner Ben Clarke kept his head to steer the hosts home in the 48^th over with an unbeaten 26.

After at one stage being 33-4, Moseley earlier recovered to 227 through battling knocks from Asim Shoaib (50) and Mohammed Talukder (66) who added 116 for their fifth wicket.

Berkswell are fourth after Grant Thornton led them to a thrilling one-wicket home win over Barnt Green with an excellent unbeaten 63-ball 71.

When the hosts’ pursuit of 244 had stumbled to 177-8 this seemed a far-from-likely outcome only for Thornton, who struck four sixes and four fours, to add 54 with Kamran Khanna then an unbroken 16 with last man Ryan Sidebottom.

Barnt Green’s innings had previously been built around a fine 67 from back-to-form Dom Harding and Dan Meredith’s 51.

Knowle & Dorridge’s poor second half of the season continued with a 64-run home defeat at the hands of a Connor Smith-inspired Himley.

Smith grabbed 5-21 and with James Lunn claiming 3-19 K&D were bowled out in the 40^th over for 149 despite opener Hamza Shaikh’s 62.

Shaikh (4-35) had earlier combined well with the in-form Ollie Currill (4-36) but despite their efforts half-centuries from opener Spencer Grove and James Clark (60) enabled Himley to post a competitive 213 all out.

Division Two

Harborne are back in Division One for the first time in nearly a quarter-century after a brilliant Ollie Davidson display fired them to a comfortable 83-run home win over Old Hill.

Warwickshire youngster Kai Smith made 58 for the hosts but it was the arrival of Davidson who made an unbeaten 101 from 68 balls that lifted Harborne to a best-of-the-day 333-7.

Although Old Hill’s Dylan Keeling responded by thrashing a 38-ball 73 including seven sixes, Davidson then followed up his pre-tea effort by claiming 6-45 to dismiss the visitors for 250 in the 43^rd over.

Shrewsbury secured their top-flight berth for 2025 over the Bank Holiday weekend and following this week’s three-wicket home win over Dorridge they are now two wins from the Division Two title.

Skipper Lewis Evans and Will Jenkins shared six wickets for the Shrews as Dorridge were bowled out in the 40^th over for 176.

Ashish Chakrapani top-scored for the visitors with 59 and led by the ever-consistent Kalana Perera (2-16) their bowlers then made the hosts graft for their 15^th win of the season which eventually arrived in the 39^th over.

At the other end of the table Bridgnorth were relegated last weekend and they now know Wellington will join them in the Shropshire League next season after just one term back in the BDPCL.

Dan Vaughan’s team have been unable to translate their T20 prowess into the longer forms and this week it was Tamworth’s in-form leg-spinner Jason Jakeman who proved their nemesis by grabbing 5-35 to shoot them out for 131 and deliver a thumping 179-run verdict.

Confident Tamworth earlier continued their excellent run of recent form by setting a formidable 310-3 thanks to useful contributions from all their top five within which Riley Ward’s unbeaten 25-ball 67 containing four sixes really caught the eye.

At Cricket Meadow Zak Abbas made 76 for Bridgnorth against local rivals Shifnal for whom Ben Roberts grabbed 5-44.

This left the visitors chasing 256, but once again Bridgnorth’s lack of bowling penetration proved their undoing. As a consequence, Shifnal cruised to an eight-wicket victory in just 35.4 overs on the back of an unbroken 166-run third-wicket partnership between Andre Bradford (63no) and Charlie Home who made an unbeaten 80-ball 100.

Having battled relegation for much of the season, Leamington are now eyeing a mid-table finish after completing a second consecutive run chase in some style to clinch a six-wicket success at Worfield.

James Hawkins scythed off the home side’s top-order in a testing spell which returned 5-16 and despite opener Harvey Sage grafting his way to 63, Spa were left to chase only 156.

George Maddy then finished with an unbeaten 55 as Jon Wigley’s team eased to the finishing line in just 29.3 overs.

Kidderminster also continued their strong finish to the season by claiming a four-wicket win at Coventry & North Warwickshire.

After Zeshan Bashir (4-40) and Dan Lategan (3-29) combined to bowl the hosts out for 172 the visitors eased to their seventh win of the year in the 43^rd over.