Shrewsbury loss blows title race wide open

Having opened up a 30-point cushion with victory at Kenilworth the previous week, Shrewsbury saw it cut to just 14 after they were beaten in a thrilling, low-scoring affair.

Opener Steve Leach, with 75, was the only batsman capable of holding his own on a tricky surface as, batting first, the hosts collapsed to 156 all out.

The second highest score was found in the extras column, while Tom Cox was the only other player to reach double figures as Knowle's Nathan Roberts claimed 5-51.

But the visitors found the reply far from straightforward, collapsing from 48 without loss to 67-4 and then 116-8.

With Ed Foster (3-29) wreaking havoc together with young spinner Charlie Morris, Shrewsbury looked set for victory.

That was only for Knowle's ninth wicket pair of David Myers and Tom Smith to hold their nerve and see their side home.

Third-placed Knowle are now within striking distance of the London Roaders, 20 points back, with Berkswell sitting even closer in second after their win over Walmley.

And captain James Ralph has set sights on the title after Bridgnorth clinched promotion to Division One.

The long-time leaders suffered their first defeat of the campaign as they were thumped by second-placed Sutton Coldfield, going down at home by 114 runs.

But results elsewhere were enough to confirm a second promotion in as many years for the Victoria Road outfit.

A delighted Ralph now wants his side to finish a superb season in style by ensuring they finish top dogs.

The skipper said: "There is nothing better than being champions and it would be a fitting tribute to what this team has achieved.

"If we can win two or three of the remaining four games, it should be ours."

Ralph paid tribute to the way players have coped with the pressure after having led the table since the midway point of the season.

Not for the first time this year, he was also keen to stress how much their achievement has been a team effort.

He added: "We are not one of the bigger spending clubs in the division and on paper you would say the team is probably the fourth of fifth best.

"But we have performed really well as a group. Everyone has played their part in the success.

"There are 13 or 14 players in the first-team and each one of them has stepped up when needed and won us a game.

"The past few weeks we have had people coming in down the order who have had to win games and they have done."

There was, naturally, no shortage of irony Bridgnorth achieved their goal after what was by some distance their worst display of the season.

Ralph described the atmosphere as having been "weird" after the trudged off after such a heavy defeat, having been dismissed for just 97 in reply to the visitors 211-9, only to be told they had gone up.

He said: "We thought we had bowled well to keep them to just over 200 and we fancied ourselves in the chase.

"But they are a good bowling unit and made it tough for us. They bowled in key areas and any time one of our guys took a risk, they got out.

"It was a disappointing result but ultimately we have achieved our goal."

Shifnal slipped two places to seventh after suffering a 37-run defeat in a rain-affected game at Halesowen.

After bowling out the hosts for 248, Shifnal were 182-8 and behind on Duckworth Lewis, when storms brought an early conclusion.

Wellington will be aiming to secure their Division One safety over the Bank Holiday weekend after a narrow defeat to Smethwick.

Despite suffering a five-wicket Duckworth Lewis defeat, they maintained a 27-point cushion over the bottom two and know two wins from their final four games will likely be enough to survive.

Trips to Old Hill and Attock await over the Bank Holiday. Club spokesman Adam Byram said: "It's always a pivotal weekend and it promises to be again.

"If we can get a win and a few bonus points we will be in a pretty good position heading into the final two games."

Byram admitted there were numerous positives to take from Saturday's defeat.

After Wellington had scored 206-9 batting first, Smethwick reached 170-5, enough to clinch victory after storms brought an early halt to proceedings.

Byram said: "Had we taken another wicket, it would have pushed the DL score up but it wasn't to be."

Oswestry remain in deep trouble at the foot of the table after losing by 100 runs at Himley.

In response to the hosts 290-5, Oswestry could only reach 80-5 in reply from 25 overs before rain forced an early conclusion.

Despite Ian Davies snaring the early wicket of Greg Wright (14), Himley always looked set for a big total, with former Indian Test player Wasim Jaffer in imperious form.

He was eventually bowled by Robbie Clarke, after smashing 124 in just 111 balls.

William Fraine also scored 58 with the figures of Clarke, who snared two wickets but also conceded 64 runs in nine overs, rather summing up Oswestry's day with the ball.

Even so, they would have hoped to do better with the run chase but lost wickets at regular intervals to sit well behind the DL par score.

Worfield skipper Nick Hudson hailed overseas star Gagandeep Singh after the seamer helped set up a crucial victory over Fordhouses.

The Indian pace man followed up his seven wicket haul in the previous week's victory over Stratford by taking 4-12.

It including the visitors' top three as Worfield made it back-to-back wins for the first time this season to open a 21-point gap over the Division Three drop zone.

Hudson said: "I think Gagandeep would admit himself that over the first half of the season, he wasn't anywhere near the bowler he can be.

"But over the past couple of weeks he has really shown what he can do."

After late hitting from Dan Plank and Joe Arnold helped Worfield recover from 114-7 to post 175, Singh reduced the visitors to 5-3.

It was a predicament from which they never fully recovered despite a belligerent, unbeaten 51 from Tendai Chisoro.

Hudson accepts, with four games remaining, his side still have much work to do before they can consider themselves safe but hopes they have found their rhythm at the right time.

He said: "The main thing is winning two games on the bounce. We feel we have a bit of momentum. The Bank Holiday weekend is going to be massive, as it always is.

"The win over Stratford was key in giving us confidence and we need to kick on now and ensure we finish the season strongly."

While Worfield have shown the fight required to drag themselves out of trouble, Whitchurch remain very much in the danger zone after being brushed aside by Aston Manor.

Having made 208 batting first, Maisam Hasnain's side were beaten by eight wickets, with the hosts taking less than 35 overs to reach the target.

It meant a fine innings of 52 from just 34.