Wem

WEM maintained their lead in their defence of the Shropshire Premier Division on Saturday with a narrow two-wicket victory over Newport at home.

Sam Peate’s men are 19 points clear of Worfield but were pushed all the way by a spirited Newport side and were grateful for Harry Astley’s 57 as their run chase began to wobble.

The visitors won the toss and decided to set the league leaders a target but may have regretted their decision when they were bowled out for just 125 in 37 overs.

Opener Maisam Hasnain Jaffri starred for Newport at the top of the order as he scored a fine 55 from 95 balls, including four fours and two sixes, but he was never given any level of support by his teammates, with only Mark Downes’ 22 the other score reaching double figures.

Wem took wickets at regular intervals as Sam Papps was first to go on 7-1, caught behind by Harry Chandler off Danny Cohen’s bowling, who added skipper Jamie Prew to his total to leave Newport 15-2.

On a slow, sticky wicket, Peate turned to Raj Biswa early and he bowled Ed Fowler to leave the visitors 18-3 before Downes and Jaffri restored some credibility to the Newport score.

However, Ben Peel made the breakthrough on 77 as he had Downes stumped by Chandler, but while a collapse failed to materialise, Wem picked up wickets as Peel added another with a stumping from Chandler and the Astleys – Harry and Tom – removed Jaffri, Edward Parton and Ben Donald respectively.

Peel finished the pick of the home bowling with figures of 3-26.

In reply, Wem were off to a poor start when Chandler was out for a second-ball duck, trapped lbw by Downes before Biswa followed on 26, having hit two fours in his 11. Like the first half, Wem scored quickly but lost wickets at regular intervals too, with Matthew Cohen, Martyn Davies and Tom Astley out to leave Wem 69-5.

Harry Astley was the anchor for the Wem innings, coming into number three and he scored quickly, in the context of the game, finishing on 57 from 70 balls including eight fours as he continued to steer Wem to their target of 126.

He was eventually dismissed with the score on 101-7, with 25 more needed but a crucial cameo partnership of 21 between Peate and Peel saw Wem close to their target despite the former’s late dismissal.

Meanwhile, the second XI beat Market Drayton by 10 wickets with 5-26 for Ben Parry and Marcus Bruce raced to the total with Rhys Mellings (15 not out) as he finished 73 not out.

On Saturday, the firsts face St Georges while Wellington come to the second XI.

Iscoyd & Fenns Bank

IN THE Shropshire Cricket league Division Four, Iscoyd & Fenns Bank picked up a fine win over Bridgnorth’s third XI on Saturday.

The win, which lifts Iscoyd into fifth spot in the league, came courtesy of an outstanding 165-run partnership for the third wicket between opener Ryan Jones and Paul Gresty.

Iscoyd made a solid recovery after Tom Wynne was out for two to make it 9-1 as skipper Duncan Wright joined Jones to take the score to 46, but he was then bowled by the aptly-named Matthew Bowler-Jones for 23.

That brought Gresty to the crease and he wasted no time in taking the attack to the home side, as he scored 14 fours in 82 before he was run out while Jones scored 12 fours and one six in his 72 not out as Iscoyd finished their 40 overs on 222-4.

In reply, Bridgnorth scored well but lost four key wickets to reached 76-4 as Wright claimed two of the top order while Gresty and Wynne removed the other two, with Wynne taking the crucial wicket of Lez Evans for 34.

From there, it was a waiting game for Iscoyd as they picked off the remaining wickets they needed, with only Jim Bowler-Jones showing resistance with 28 before he was bowled by Tom Lea.

Wynne then cleaned up the tail with three quick wickets to take 4-30 as Bridgnorth were bowled out for 149.

Meanwhile, the second XI were well beaten by Chirk’s second string in the Shropshire Division Eight.

Their visitors posted 262-3 from their 40 overs with Samuel Davies denied a century when he ran out of time, finishing 98 not out while openers Ian Skinner and Liam Walker both posted half-centuries with the former making 55 and the latter making 60.

In reply, their nine men were dismissed for 69 as Gavin Kelly top-scored with 21 while Chirk added 20 through extras and there were five wickets for Mark Roberts who opened the visiting bowling.

On Saturday, the first XI host Prees while the second XI face Chirk once more, heading to Holyhead Road for a 1pm start.

Prees

PREES’ result from the weekend has not been published, and the Rec Men continue to prop up up the rest of the league.

They will be hoping for better fortune when they travel to Iscoyd.

Chelmarsh continue to lead Division Four comfortably, 62 points ahead of their nearest rivals Wheaton Aston while Iscoyd are 81 points behind the leaders and champions-elect.

Calverhall

CALVERHALL’S recent downturn in form continued as they were beaten comfortably by Trysull & Seisdon at home on Saturday.

Skipper Akeel Ahmed won the toss and inserted the opposition and may have soon regretted his decision when Trysull posted a challenging score of 208-9 from their 45 overs.

Number three Simon Cross led the way for Trysull as he scored a fine 73 before he was eventually caught by Will Charman off the bowling of Alex Parker.

He was ably supported by opener Usman Bari, whose vital 30 at the top of the order was enough to help set a platform for Cross before he was trapped lbw by Ben Oakley. His return of 4-29 from nine overs, as first change bowler, was the pick of the Calverhall bowling but they faced a tough test in chasing down their target, especially with only 10 men in the line-up.

Their reply got off to a poor start as both openers were removed with only one run between them as Calverhall missed the influential Kareem Yarde.

Simon Parker with 18, Chris Rowe with 12 and Ian Millard with 26 all tried to show some fighting spirit, but a lower order collapse with Oliver Griffiths, Ahmed and Charman adding six runs between them, saw Calverhall struggling to make a score.

However, Alex Parker and Will Lewis, with 19 and 10 respectively, gave Calverhall’s end total an air of respectability as they finished on 122-9 in the 33rd over, but they were also aided by 29 extras from the visitors.

Andrew Kirby returned brilliant figures of 3-3 from four overs while opener Bari finished with 2-17 and Gary Mellor with 2-14, and Stuart Hickman and Muhammed Usama finished with one wicket apiece.

On Saturday, they travel to Wheaton Aston (1pm start).

Malpas

MALPAS were well beaten on Saturday and are now joint second from bottom, and level on points with 2018 rivals Mossley, following defeat to second placed Styal.

Keith Rickett won the toss and would have been happy with his side’s efforts at restricting Styal to 160 all out, in the 44th over, with Simon Rae’s 4-74b the pick of the visiting bowling.

Opener Adrian Waddelove also returned figures of 3-18 from 14 overs in a spell of superb tight bowling.

In reply, Malpas struggled with the bat, their undoing all season, and were skittled for just 65 in the 37th over.

Rickett scored 14 before he was out lbw to Andy Tatton while Waddelove top-scored with 25 before he was also dismissed by Tatton.

No other Malpas batter reached double figures as the Wrexham Road side a relegation battle.

Coton Hall

COTON Hall’s hopes of leapfrogging Llanidloes out of Division Seven were damaged as the league leaders sealed victory on Saturday.

Batting first, Coton made a great start as Connor Tinsley reached 58 and skipper Alex Cadman scored 28 before R Swallow removed him caught and bowled, while Adrian Foulkes accounted for Tinsley.

Dan Thomas scored 21 but it was not enough as Coton were bowled out for 135 in the 35th over with three ducks in the middle order proving to be a huge obstacle to Cadman’s side setting a competitive target.

In reply, consistent scoring throughout the top order gave Llanidloes the win as Dave Moody, with 24 not out, saw them over the line for the loss of just four wickets, with Aiden Rich’s 2-11 the pick of the home bowling.

On Saturday, they will look to bounce back with an instant clash with the leaders at 1pm.

Ellesmere

ELLESMERE first XI managed their first win of the league campaign in the Shropshire County Cricket League Division One as they beat Bridgnorth seconds.

Batting first, Ellesmere reached a score of 258-5 with some high scores across the whole team.

Leading the way was skipper Tom Davies who managed 60 runs to spearhead his team’s batting efforts.

Sam Budd hit 56 while, Jonathan Mitchell also performed well to score 46.

The target for Bridgnorth seemed a difficult one to reach, but they came close after a good batting display of their own saw them fall just short at 223 all out.

Ellesmere had Fraser Duncan to thank as he took five wickets during the afternoon to make it difficult for Bridgnorth to find momentum.

The pairing of Charlie Walker and Cameron Wallis scored 110 which bumped their score up, but with some good bowling on show and three catches by Mitchell, Ellesmere were able to claim the victory.

On Saturday they travel to face Newtown firsts.

Ellesmere second XI continued to struggle as they lost away to Allscott Heath seconds in the Shropshire County Cricket League Division Seven.

With the hosts batting first, skipper Richard Addison did some damage early on as he managed 65 runs to put Ellesmere on the back foot for the afternoon.

Allscott eventually reached a target of 199-8.

In reply, Ellesmere looked good at times but failed to be as consistent as their opponents as they reached a score of 120 all out.

Captain Jason Wirdnam scored 32 to make him the side’s top scorer on the day, however difficulty in getting runs for the tail-end of the batting order left Ellesmere 79 runs short as they were taken out.

On Saturday, they face Allscott Heath seconds again in the return fixture.

Ellesmere third XI lost to Shelton thirds on Saturday after their target of 57-7 was met by Shelton who managed 58-2. They face Oswestry thirds on Sunday.