England star hails table-topping Shrewsbury
England batsman James Taylor has praised his Shrewsbury team-mates after they took another big step towards regaining the title at Kenilworth Wardens.
The 25-year-old Nottinghamshire star, who is in his second year as Shrewsbury's contracted player, has seen his appearances limited in that time because of county and international commitments.
He was not in the side again on Saturday, but took to Twitter to congratulate the rest of the squad following Saturday's 66-run triumph in the Birmingham & District League Premier Division.
Shrewsbury's comfortable victory, coupled with defeat for nearest rivals Berkswell against Wolverhampton, has stretched the London Roaders' lead at the summit to 30 points with five games left.
Kenilworth has not been a happy hunting ground for Shrewsbury in the past but they avoided a potential banana skin to claim a precious 20 points.
All of the first nine Shrewsbury batsmen reached double figures, as they were dismissed for 210.
Will Parton top scored with 31 while Anthony Parker, Tom Cox, Steve Barnard and Steve Leach are added solid scores of 29, 25, 22 and 20 respectively.
The wickets were shared amongst the Wardens attack but the home side's batting line-up struggled, in reply, finishing on 144 all out.
Sitanshu Kotak scored 45 with Charlie Morris taking 3- 27 for the leaders who, now, look firm favourites for the title with five games left.
Three of those matches will come at home, where Shrewsbury have lost just twice in the league all season, starting with Knowle & Dorridge on Saturday.
Peter Byram believes just two more wins will be enough to secure Wellington's Division One status for another season following their 'vital' eight wicket win at fellow strugglers Oswestry.
Two key early wickets and an explosive 99 from Neil Edwards proved decisive in this basement battle, which pitted two of the division's bottom three against each other.
Trevor Garwe (3-15) struck the first major blow, removing opening batsman Warrick Fynn for three before Anthony O'Connor dismissed Worcestershire's Joe Clarke for one to leave the hosts reeling on 15-2.
Wellington, who had lost the reverse fixture, then bowled out their county neighbours for 145, with Jamie Miller taking 3-37, before Edwards produced an opening stand of 111 with Steve Lamb, who carried his bat for 17.
Wellington secretary Byram said: "It was a vital win. We have five games left to play so we are not out of the woods yet, but if we can win two we should be OK."
Wellington are now 22 points clear of the drop zone while Oswestry are 31 points adrift.
Oswestry club captain Mike Robinson said: "We have given ourselves a mountain to climb – but we will keep battling."
Bridgnorth chairman Jonathan Martin has hailed the bravery of his high-flying team after they moved to within touching distance of a second successive promotion,
The Cricket Meadow men now require just 16 more points to clinch their place in Division One next season.
And they could be toasting that success as early as this Saturday after putting Coventry & North Warwickshire to the sword at the weekend.
Bridgnorth dismissed their hosts for 146 but they were then made to fight hard for their 14th win in 17 games.
They lost eight wickets before they crossed the line thanks to a decisive unbeaten 47 from Simon Gregory.
Martin said: "We are delighted to be in this position. It was a tight game against Coventry, but we seem to be holding our nerve when we need to.
"Someone always seems to stand up to get us home and, on Saturday, it was Simon Gregory."
Bridgnorth bowlers Dale Quiney (4-41) and Tom Weston (3-25) did most of the damage for the visitors.
But Coventry's Harry Horsley (4-31) sparked a late Bridgnorth collapse before Gregory got them over the line.
Meanwhile Shifnal, fifth, were defeated by struggling Brewood for the second time this season.
Brewood, third bottom, bolstered their survival chances with a 29-run away win despite the best efforts of home bowler Iain Mills (3-28).
Brewood were bowled out for 144 but Shifnal then crumbled to 115 all out, despite 42 from Muhammed Ayub.
In Division Three, an unbeaten 34 by Charlie Adams helped Whitchurch bolstered their survival hopes at home to Water Orton.
Whitchurch remain in the bottom four despite their six wicket win but are still just four points behind Worfield, who defeated Stratford-upon-Avon by 42 runs at home.
Tom Pickerill starred for Worfield, who made 228-7, scoring a superb 105 from 146 balls before Gagendeep Singh claimed a stunning 7-26, as Stratford were bowled out for 186.
