Birmingham & District League round-up

The reigning Premier Division champions lost at home to the table-toppers on the opening day of the season and again away from home on Saturday.

The London Roaders won the toss and chose to bat but were restricted to 191-7, despite the best efforts of opener Steve Leach with 77 not out.

Partner Ed Foster chipped in with 43 but wickets fell around Leach from there, losing the next five for just 93 before a salvage attempt from Mike Barnard.

He put on 25 before he was caught out by Aqsad Ali, who took 6-51 against Shrewsbury's faltering batsman as the hosts were set a reasonable target.

Captain Kadeer Ali led the charge with 92, before he was caught by wicketkeeper Anthony Parker off Barnard's ball.

Partner Basit Zeman added 19 before Ateeq Javid joined him at the crease for an unbeaten 69, Daniel Bassett seeing them over the line with nine not out.

They sailed to victory with 192-2 in the 43^rd over to condemn Shrewsbury to their seventh defeat in 12 games, as their fall from grace continues.

Wellington climbed into the top half of Division One with much to spare after Gareth Rees' unbeaten century at Harborne.

The home side elected to bat and hoped they had done enough with 227-9 before running out of balls, but their Shropshire visitors had other ideas.

Matching scores of 67 from Guriq Randhawa and Tom Payne had set Harborne on their way, Tom Arnold and Mark Adair adding 30 and 22 (both not out).

Decent bowling from Wellington kept them down with quick-fire wickets from Anthony O'Connor (3-19) while Dan Lloyd (3-67) also took three wickets.

Rees' 107 then led the way with the bat, building on opener Neil Edwards' 80 after partner Sam Lloyd had left for a duck, bowled out by Adair.

Daniel Vaughan chipped in with 30, before captain Wendell Wagner got the last five runs to start the victory party for Wellington after just 28 overs.

Oswestry took the lion's share of the points with a winning draw at Barnards Green, Warrick Fynn's century getting them up and running.

His side put themselves into bat with opener Fynn amassing 109, eventually caught by Jonathan Dovey off Mark Hardinges.

Robbie Clarke made 59 in the top order supported by Joe Clarke's 21, Matthew Gregson notching 59 as they amassed 277-5.

Home opener Andrew Curtis tried to emulate Fynn with 97, with great assistance from Alex Hepburn's 93 after coming in for the second wicket.

But they couldn't build enough on those showings as they fell short with 255-8 with Gregson (3-26) and captain Mark Robinson (3-62) taking three wickets each.

Shifnal's score was chased down after winning the toss at Old Hill, with both sides compiling over 200 runs.

Openers Tom Collins and Simon Gregory, fresh from his part in Shropshire's first Minor Counties Championship win of the year, were both looking for half centuries.

They fell short with 49 and 44 respectively, as did Muhamed Ayub's 45. Chris Murrall later assisted with an unbeaten 32, as Shifnal closed on 212-6.

Home captain Dannyjo Cox started the response with 33, adding to contributions from Nilesh Patel (28) and Joe Thorn (21).

Unbeaten showings through Dan Brosnan's 42 and 41 from Nigel Davenport, who had accounted for three wickets (3-50), saw them home on 213-7 in the 49^th over.

A captain's performance from Omar Ali saw Whitchurch drop hosts Old Elizabethans a place to fourth in Division Two, after recording a winning draw at the Memorial Ground.

Ali's side put themselves into bat and racked up 238-8 before running out of balls, with their opponents falling just short with 220-8.

It looked ominous for Whitchurch when opener Maisam Jaffri was removed for just two, trapped lbw by Liam Booth.

But partner Mohammed Ishtiaq stepped up a gear after skipper Ali's arrival, the pair notching 57 and 82 respectively.

Solid showings from Waqar Saleem (37) and Ijaz Yousaf (33) made up for a middle order struggle and put the onus on Elizabethans. Taylor Pugh (3-30) and Jonathan Miles (3-57) took three wickets each.

The pressure was on Whitchurch through opener Jamie Boyle's century (115) with partner Johann Smitt adding 65, before he was bowled out by Ali.

It was off Ali's ball that Andy Jones removed Miles for nine, with the captain responsible for two of the four run outs that decimated the batting order.

Quatt moved to within three points of Newport in Division Three after claiming the majority of the points from the Shropshire derby.

Hayden Cargo and Terry Cowburn teamed up for a star turn as they put on an undefeated 91 for the ninth Quatt wicket, achieved in just seven overs.

They featured prominently after the home side chose to bat and racked up the 278-8 that earned them a winning draw at the Oval.

Adrian Evans, buoyed by his second appearance for Shropshire in midweek, helped them build a total with 34, followed by Ian Gregory's 59.

Craig Harris (21) and captain Alex Biddle (16) came and went, before Cargo (66) and Cowburn's late exploits left Newport with plenty to do.

Opener Amardeep Sonkar tried to turn the tide with 46 before he was bowled by Cargo, who proved just as effective with the ball (3-42).

He accounted for Rob Furniss (18) and Newport top scorer Ryan Jakeman (51), before Jimmy Arbuckle (2-19) cleaned up with a quick couple of wickets.

Newport fell short with 164-5 although they remain a place above Quatt in third-bottom, with both teams still in the drop zone.

Bridgnorth breathed fresh life into their promotion hopes with victory at Fordhouses, their bowlers in destructive mood as they skittled the home side for 94.

Wickets fell for next to nothing after openers Ashley Davies (16) and Niall Cooper (32) and Steven Sandhu (17) were removed.

The rest fell for just 25, Tom Weaver (5-45) demolishing half of the order with Sam Whitney (3-7) helping to clean up, alongside two run outs.

That left Bridgnorth the favourites to go onto victory, which they did for the loss of just one wicket as two county captains got them over the line inside 14 overs.

Shropshire's James Ralph opened the batting with an unbeaten 39, Herefordshire's David Exall chipping in with 41. Ryan Lockley contributed 13 to their 97-1.

The Meadow Men cut the gap on the top two to 27 points, with second-placed Sutton Coldfield surprisingly dropping points in a winning draw against bottom club Penn.