Milford beat the weather to steal march on their rivals

After heavy rain all week in the West Midlands half of the South Staffordshire County Cricket League fixtures were abandoned without a ball being bowled.

It was a weekend where any points gained almost counted for double with so many other teams missing out.

And Milford took advantage as they managed to get a game on against Walsall. They lost the toss and were put into bat by the hosts making 139 for 9 in their 31 overs.

Nico Van Zyl, Walsall’s overseas player, was up to his usual tricks with the ball taking 3 for 34 from his nine overs. Rafay Ahmed was also among the wickets for Walsall with him taking 4 for 43.

Dan Betty made a run-a-ball 34 for Milford as it looked like they had fallen short of a winning score.

But with the amount of rain around conditions were good for bowling, and Milford’s attack took full advantage of that bowling their opponents out for 71 in 19 overs.

Chris Dean took 5 for 37 for the visitors as they picked up a vital win which will have given them renewed hope of catching leaders Beacon – they trail them by 11 points.

Beacon picked up 10 points themselves on Saturday, and it looked like it could have been more had the rain not intervened in their clash with third-placed Wombourne.

Beacon batted first and posted 272 for 6 thanks to contributions from most of their batters. Roger Fildes (44), Mike Brookes (43) and Jake Cartwright (48) all made contributions, while Ollie Green made a quick fire 72 down the order.

In the reply, Wombourne looked to be behind the game at 92 for 3 after 19 overs when the rain came – captain Zac Smith was 51 not out at the time.

The only other game to get on in the league was the clash between Pelsall and Penkridge.

Pelsall made 207 for 8 off their 41 overs thanks to a half-century by Raul Ram. And in reply, Penkridge were 83 for 6 which meant the game ended in a draw.