Division One

Led by Deepak Khatri’s brilliant unbeaten 154, Smethwick cruised to an eight-wicket win at Knowle & Dorridge and in the process overtook their title rivals at the head of the table.

Khatri joined Bilal Shafayat in the middle with his team’s quest for 253 in some trouble at 22 for two and the third wicket pair proceeded to dominate the remainder of the match.

They added 235 in the next 36 overs of which the former Nottinghamshire batter made an unbeaten 81 while Smethwick’s Indian import lashed seven sixes and 17 fours in his outstanding 118-ball knock.

A brisk half-century from opener Jamie Harrison had earlier got K&D away to a good start but after then slipping to 165 for six it needed George Baines (38no) and David Ball (54no from 38 balls) to get them past 250 in the closing ten overs.

Barnt Green seamers Andy Sutton (4-37) and Robbie Shurmer (3-34) combined to hustle struggling West Bromwich Dartmouth out for 149 at Sandwell Park of which Cameron Jones top-scored with an unbeaten 34.

The third-placed visitors then cruised to a 24-point return by an eight-wicket margin in the 26^th over with Jacques Banton making an unbeaten 38-ball 63 containing five sixes and seven boundaries.

Moseley’s last pair held their nerve in a breathless finish to clinch a one-wicket win at Halesowen by adding 26 in the five extra overs gained by earlier bowling their hosts out for 228 in the 50^th over.

Hishaam Khan was the star of the show for the visitors with an unbeaten 93 that included ten match-clinching runs from the closing three deliveries of the match.

After Moseley’s chase had slipped to 83 for five, Awais Mohammed made a crucial 55 before last man Eesa Nadeem survived eight deliveries while in partnership with Hishaam.

James Rudge and Eddie Rhodes shared six wickets for Halesowen who had earlier leaned heavily on Alexei Kervezee’s 95 against a visiting attack in which Hishaam and Awais had begun good all-round days by claiming three wickets apiece.

Wolverhampton also made use of extra overs claimed by their bowlers to clinch a four-wicket win that lifts them above vanquished hosts Ombersley at the foot of the table.

The visitors’ Indian pro Techi Doria grafted his way to an unbeaten 64 and with skipper Will Nield making 35 and Aman Rao contributing a breezy unbeaten 26 Wolves reached their 210-run target with four balls of their second and final extra over remaining.

Joe Stanley (4-52) and Sam Ellis (3-57) had earlier worked their way through an Ombersley batting line-up in which five players reached 24 but none went beyond opener Ollie Cox’s 39. Indeed at 150 for nine in the 43^rd over the position looked still bleaker for the hosts until last pair Josh Holling and Ishaan Arora added 56 while extending their innings to the 53^rd over.

Barnards Green were comfortable seven-wicket victors over Kenilworth Wardens in Malvern with spinner George Rhodes who claimed 5-66 the star of the show.

Things initially looked promising for Wardens while openers Harry Johnson (58) and Eitan Litvin (44) were adding 100 but they then proceeded to lose all ten wickets for another 75.

And their day went from bad to worse in the field as Barnards Green’s top-order took charge to race home in just 28 overs with Oliver Halion 51no.

The day’s only top-flight draw came at Berkswell where the hosts piled up 301 for nine with Nick James making 94, skipper Neil Dexter 69, Amrit Basra 54 and Amir Khan 49.

Hasitha De Silva and Jamie Turner claimed three wickets apiece for Himley who then dug in for a share of the points at 174 for nine despite the best efforts of James (3-45) and Kamran Khanna (4-50).

Division Two

Bridgnorth finally opened their seasonal account as skipper Matt Martin’s solid unbeaten half-century steered them to a nervy three-wicket home win over Dorridge.

Chasing 241, useful contributions from Harjivan Dhinsay (43) and Charlie Ward (34) got the hosts within range before Martin was joined by eighth-wicket partner Raja Ateeq who – with 30 runs needed from three overs - blasted an unbeaten 27 from just seven balls to finish the job off.

Kalana Perera continued his fine campaign by claiming 4-45 for Dorridge whose batting had earlier been led by half-centuries from Daanyaal Mahmood and Luke Horgan.

Martin’s team now have eleventh-placed Kidderminster within sight following the Carpetmen’s nine-wicket setback at promotion-chasing Harborne.

Ben Griffin made 46 for Kiddy whose batting otherwise had few answers to home spinners Swapnil Gugale (4-10) and Oliver Davidson (4-45).

Harborne’s Indian ace then strapped on his pads to contribute an unbeaten 62 but it was Ben Shepperson’s 28-ball unbeaten 59 containing six sixes that brought the contest to a prompt conclusion.

Wellington are also looking nervously over their shoulder after their trip to Coventry ended in a nine-wicket defeat.

Skipper Dan Vaughan made 60, but otherwise the 2023 Shropshire League champions found life difficult against Sameer Vohra (3-33) while struggling to 182 for eight.

Home openers Will Iles (38) and Marco Higgins (49no) then got the home chase away to a strong start before Indian pro Jay Bista joined his wicket-keeper to speed fourth-placed CNW to the finish line with a superb unbeaten 73-ball 98 containing five sixes and ten fours.

Peter Clark’s brilliant 123 not out steered table-topping Shrewsbury to a comfortable five-wicket home win over Leamington.

The opener cleared the ropes five times during a match-winning 118-ball knock that enabled the hosts to reach their 242-run target with seven overs remaining.

He added 73 with opening partner George Hargrave (45) then 93 with fourth-wicket partner Llyr Thomas (50).

Tom Randle took three wickets for Spa and the former Corley skipper had earlier boosted their batting effort with an unbeaten 44-ball 65. There were also half-centuries for top-order pair Harry Smith and Kabir Sodhi while Clark and Lewis Evans shared six wickets for Shrewsbury.

Shifnal move into third place following a Ben Roberts-inspired last over, two-wicket win at Tamworth.

Jacob Flower (57) and Scott Daly (62) laid a good base for the home side but Roberts took wickets at regular intervals to finish with 6-52 as Tamworth closed on 230 for nine.

While Charlie Home was making 96 from 119 balls Roberts probably then thought his work was done for the day, but he eventually arrived at the crease with eight wickets down and 30 needed from 36 balls and went on to help Shaun Lorimer (25no) complete a thrilling win with two balls remaining.

Two outstanding bowling contributions took centre stage at Worfield where the home side eventually finished with a 27-run win over Old Hill.

Sam Keeling-Wright grabbed 6-31 for the visitors to reduce their opponents to 126 for nine before Will Wright’s aggressive 44 from no.10 left Old Hill chasing 171.

And these proved to be vital runs which bought Matthew Rees the time to bowl the visitors out for 143 with a superb spell in which he claimed 7-50.