Close but Wolves suffer a final-over defeat in trophy

Jack Stanley came up with a very respectable 59 from 98 balls while Will Nield bludgeoned 57 from 57, but they fell just short at Shifnal in Group One.

That was largely due to the fact that only one other Wolverhampton batsman, Amritpal Singh, with 11, got into double figures as they were dismissed for 191.

Shifnal’s reply was headlined by Steven Leach, whose 96 from 103 helped them over the line with only two balls to spare.

A tough one to take for Wolverhampton, who currently sit fifth in the six-team group.

In Group Two, Walsall were dealt their first defeat of the campaign, by Smethwick.

A fairly low-scoring affair saw Smethwick bat first and reach 159 all out.

Spinner Sam Mills was in fine form (4-26) but Hamza Ahmed’s impressive 79 runs from 72 balls proved to be the difference.

Walsall, in reply, began badly – losing three wickets for 22 – and, ultimately, were unable to recover.

A fifth-wicket stand of 46 between Billy Cox and James Middleton kept things interesting until another spinner, Sunny Singh (3-22) grabbed the spotlight for Smethwick as Walsall ended up 13 runs short.

That result allowed West Bromwich Dartmouth to close the gap and move level on points with group-toppers Walsall.

Dartmouth enjoyed a dominant victory – prevailing by 129 runs – against Himley.

Their team total of 304-4 at Sandwell Park, in fact, was the highest of the term so far.

Himley elected to field first, but they were soon put to the sword by a batting masterclass as Omar Ali cracked a whopping 127 runs from 87 balls, including 10 fours and nine sixes.

Ismail Mohammed, with 59, also played his part while Omar’s older brother Kadeer chipped in with an unbeaten 66 from 44 balls on the way to an emphatic triumph.

Oliver Westbury enjoyed a solid outing of 78 from 114 balls, although Himley finished far behind.

Pelsall, also in Group Two, enjoyed a four-wicket home victory over the winless Harborne.

The visitors batted first and finished on 185-9. Sam Butcher was the star man as he took 4-12 with the ball and top scored with 43 with the bat as Pelsall chased their target with six overs to spare, claiming their second win of the season.

Jake Lee also managed a handy 33 in Pelsall’s successful reply.

In Group Four, Kidderminster got the bragging rights and moved level on points at the top with a 46-run win over Halesowen.

The pace-setters will go at it again in this weekend’s return fixtures, and Kidderminster will go into the encounter with confidence after Jujhar Johal (71), Ben Twohig (53) and Andrew Kimberlin (52) helped them to 218-6.

Ryan Lockley then top scored with 47 and Jamie Harrison hit 32 before Halesowen’s reply faded to 172 all out in the 39th over.

Chris Steele took 3-24 for Kidderminster, who picked up their fourth win on the trot and will hope to make it five in a row on Saturday.