Kiwi run machine misses the decider against Shrewsbury

The London Road men are 20 points adrift of the leaders with K&D requiring just a single bonus point to be crowned Premier Division champions.

That means Shrewsbury must win while in the process prevent the table-toppers from either scoring 100 runs or taking three wickets.

Shrewsbury skipper Ben Stebbings said: “We’ve got to ideally win the toss, roll them out and knock off the runs.

“If we were to lose a third wicket that would be a bonus point for them and that would be it, so we know what we’ve got to try and do and we’ll give it a good shot.”

Shrewsbury would certainly love a repeat of last weekend’s emphatic 10-wicket win at mid-table Dorridge when they bowled out the home side for just 53, but Stebbings expects a much tougher test.

Knowle & Dorridge will head to Shrewsbury without their prolific New Zealand international batsman George Worker as he made his last appearance of the season against Ombersley last weekend.

Worker signed off in style by hitting his ninth league century of the summer to take his tally to an astonishing 1,569 runs at an average of 142.64. Such a return has earned him a place in the Birmingham League record books after he broke the previous top division record of 1,407 runs in a season at an average of 117.25, set by West Bromwich Dartmouth’s Doug Slade in 1978.

Worker also struck a ton, an unbeaten 138, when K&D beat Shrewsbury by seven wickets in July.

Shrewsbury will be boosted by the availability of Worcestershire all-rounder Ed Barnard, who struck a fine century in his most recent outing for the club, against Berkswell earlier this month, while spinner Jimmy Hulton-Harrop will also come back.