Double win for Shrewsbury boosts their title hopes

League leaders Shrewsbury consolidated their 24-run success at Leamington on Saturday by easing to victory by eight wickets at local rivals Wellington to send to within touching distance of promotion.

Leamington were bowled out for 156 inside 20.3 overs on Saturday with Rhodri Evans taking four wickets for Shrewsbury.

On the bat, Llyr Thomas top-scored for Shrewsbury with a 54-ball 65 and Will Parton and Evans chipped in with 22 to propel them to a match-winning 180.

Yesterday, George Hargrave collected three wickets as Shrewsbury bowled Wellington all out for 143.

Hargrave rounded off an excellent performance by going on to hit an impressive 42-ball 87 to help finish the innings with 146-2 inside 15.2 overs.

Third-placed Shifnal fell to a potentially costly 37-run home defeat against Tamworth on Saturday.

Tamworth’s Jake Jakeman did most of the damage with a deadly 94 although Ben Maddox chipped in with 24.

Joe Seager and Ed Smith registered 23 apiece to help Tamworth rack up 202-9, which subsequently proved to be a deficit that Shifnal were unable to overturn.

Andre Bradford top-scored for Shifnal with 34 and Ethan Jamieson attempted to keep the rescue mission alive with a quick-fire 32.

But James Wilkinson (4-42) and Suraj Chauhan (3-48) tamed Shifnal’s response as they were bowled all out for 165 inside 37 overs.

Mid-table Worfield suffered back-to-back defeats after losing by eight wickets against Old Hill at the Haden Hill Ground.

Worfield were first to bat with Joe Arnold hitting 56 and Greg Wright and Shakrukh Khan contributing a further 34 and 31 respectively to finish the innings on 166-6.

In response, Old Hill’s Waqas Ahmed totted up a 56-ball 66 and Saad Naseem struck a quick-fire 41.

Jahanzib Khan added a further 30 and Bilal Hassan’s 20 helped complete the scoring as Old Hill finished with 167-2 to clinch victory by eight wickets.

Rock-bottom Bridgnorth picked up a rare victory at Dorridge – prevailing by 37 runs at the John Woolman Ground.

First to bat, Bridgnorth’s Raja Ateeq proved to be the backbone of the innings with 55 while Sam Whitney and Peter Scott added a further 28 and 19 respectively.

Whitney (4-27) and Muhammed Khan (3-23) helped stop Dorridge’s response in its tracks by bowling them all out for 124.