Sentinel top dogs again with Quatt win

The Shrewsbury side beat the villagers at the Quatt Oval by four wickets to go nine points clear in a high-scoring game, their seventh victory of the season.

Quatt, inserted after losing the toss, reached 230-8 with Tom Whitney hitting 47 and Alex Biddle making 39 not out.

Craig Harris weighed in with 37 and opener Graham Yates 35, while Dominic Bradburne took 3-33 and Elliot Hitchen 3-39.

The game was in the balance until Craig Heath (68 not out), batting at six, cracked 11 boundaries and a six to steer Sentinel home with three-and-a-half overs to spare.

Joe Yapp assisted with 37, while Craig Jones and Jonathan Edwards took two wickets each.

Third-placed Wem were in a hurry as they kept the pressure on the top two by beating Frankton by seven wickets.

Frankton were dismissed for just 78 in 23.4 overs thanks to the efforts of Danny Cohen (3-31) and James Astley (3-13).

Wem then reached their target in just 13.4 overs after Matt Cohen hit 31 off 16 balls.

Ludlow were left cursing the skies again, after their fourth abandonment in 10 games scuppered their chances of a victory against rock-bottom Forton.

Opener Keanu Cooper and captain Will Sparrow piled up 111 and 122 respectively, as the South Shropshire side reached 276-1.

But, with no declaration allowed under the new rules, Ludlow had to bat on against a blunt attack.

The rain, which had already forced three delays, forced an end to play after 43 overs, so Ludlow had to settle for 10 points rather than the 20 they seemed destined for.

Sparrow was understandably disappointed with the outcome, after seeing his efforts not gain the reward he thought they merited.

The skipper said: "It's a bit disappointing when you post a score like that and it gets called off and every side in the top four picks up more points.

"It's the biggest partnership I've ever known, but it always seems to be the case that the rain comes when we're in really strong winning positions. That's 10 points we missed out on.

"We had seven overs to spare so we'd have been looking to put on 350, but time was running out and there were a number of showers and they were never going to be able to get in 20 overs."

Tyson Bray starred again as Albrighton recovered from a sticky start to beat struggling Bomere Heath by 99 runs.

The Australian opener contributed 37 in Albrighton's total of 181 in 49.1 overs after they were reduced to 10-4 at one stage – lower order pair Iain Anderson (57) and Rob Law (63) helped boost their score.

Bray then claimed 3-13 and Mark Bissell (3-20) as they bowled out Bomere for a paltry 82 in the 34th over.

Madeley – and in particular bowler Jeremy Marshall – were in ruthless mood as they whitewashed Shelton.

Marshall claimed 5-19 and Allan Anson 3-16 as Shelton were dismissed for just 48 in 27 overs – no-one reaching double figures.

Madeley reached their target in 17.4 overs with openers Andrew Laycock and Stephen Pugh making unbeaten totals of 18 and 23 respectively.

Broseley beat St Georges by 27 runs in a mid-table affair. Batting seven and eight, Charl Cyster and Richard Parker were the mainstays of Broseley's innings.

It came with 31 and 46 in their total of 142 all out in 33.2 overs, while Michael Myatt and Ben Miller both claimed 3-33.

In reply, opener Matthew Chester hit 47 not out as St Georges were dismissed for 115 in 34 overs with Nadeem Ahmad (3-31) and Gavin Jones (3-23) doing much of the damage.