Knowle & Dorridge runaway winners

Knowle & Dorridge clinched their first ever Birmingham Midshires Premier League title with a resounding victory over Moseley which took their lead over second placed Wolverhampton to a massive 69 points.

In a low scoring game at Scorers, K&D's Nick Warren's modest 38 turned out to be the highest individual score and it was the bowlers who enjoyed rich pickings with Moseley’s Ashfak Hussein taking 4-41 and K & D’s Chris Davidson picking up 4-12 as the home side crashed to 114 all out in 46 overs.

For K & D, Nick James hit 37 and Attiq Chishti added 32 while Keith Bell top scored for Moseley with 31.

As Jamie Spires' side were inheriting the crown that has belonged to Walsall since 2006, the former champions were having to pull out all the stops to stay in the top division, finally making sure of their place with a six wicket win over Wolverhampton, who were dismissed for 149 at Gorway after Shropshire off-spinner Andy Gray took 4-34.

Worcestershire prospect Anish Kapil hit 35 for the visitors but it was former Derbyshire & Warwickshire all-rounder Mo Sheikh who made the decisive contribution hitting 53, as he and Worcestershire’s Jack Shantry shared a stand of 79 for the fourth wicket.

If Moseley fail to pick up three points next week, either Bromsgrove or Leamington Spa can escape the drop with a 24 points haul from their final game but their survival chances were not helped by a losing draw at Kidderminster for Bromsgrove and a crushing eight wicket defeat at Barnt Green for Leamington.

Craig Wood added an unbeaten 124 to his already, impressive tally of runs this season as Kiddi piled up 261 for five but the real damage came from skipper Jonathan Wright, who smashed 58 not out from 25 balls, to take his side out of Bromsgrove’s reach.

They made a brave response but eventually ran out of overs finishing on 235 for eight. Jayden Levitt (69) and Ash Newdick (57) registered half-centuries and Shaun Levy chipped in with 46 but only a total whitewash for Moseley will save them from returning to Division One, at the first attempt.

Leamington’s prospects are almost as bleak, following their collapse to 126 all out at Barnt Green. Lee Hopkins hit 32 and Barnt Green’s Andy Sutton took 3-20 before Nathan Newport (55) and Gavin Shephard (50) shared an opening partnership of 77 to steer Barnt Green to an easy win.

Ed Foster (88) consolidated his position as the leading run scorer in the division as he and Ryan Bishop (72) put on 166 for the first wicket against Kenilworth Wardens.

Joe Leach’s 46 boosted Shrewsbury to 260 for seven, a total that Wardens failed to threaten finishing on 177 for nine.

Martyn Donald top scored with 44 while leg-spinner Elliott Green enhanced his growing reputation with 5-49.

In a typical end of season mid-table contest, Himley won the toss at Walmley and elected to bat first then predictably, suffered a four wicket defeat with four balls remaining. Greg Wright (61), Danny Cox (53) and Chris Tranter (40) helped the Black Country outfit to 210 for nine, before Chris Booth (60 not out) and Tariq Mohammed (40) guided Walmley over the line despite an impressive 4-45 from Indian overseas pro Saurabh Sehgal.