Wolverhampton dig in for a crucial draw

Opener Jaswal struck 113 in 131 balls, sharing in stands of 141 with Rehaan Edavalath (61) and 63 with Tom Fell (44) to set his team on their way to 295-6 from 55 overs in Warwickshire.

Violent late hitting from Joe Stanley (32 not out from 17 balls) and skipper Will Nield (26 from 17) further helped boost the score and ultimately proved vital, as Knowle were restricted to 232-7 in their reply. Aman Rao led a strong team bowling effort with figures of 3-36.

The 17 points claimed by Wolverhampton were enough to take them within a point of escaping Division One’s bottom two, while the result was also a good one for Smethwick who finished the weekend with an extended advantage at the top.

Their clash with title rivals Barnt Green was quite literally something of a damp squib, overnight rain which had seeped under the covers at Broomfields restricting the contest to 28 overs a side.

When the action finally got underway, batting proved tough, the hosts reaching 133-8 with RBS Venkataraman top scoring with 31.

Barnt Green found the chase a challenge, Yasir Ali removing the dangerous Ed Pollock for only 10. Deepak Khatri then took wickets at regular intervals, finishing with figures of 4-19 as the visitors reached 102-8 from 20 overs before more rain arrived to end the day.

Smethwick took 15 points from the draw and now have a 31-point cushion at the summit.

Halesowen were one of just two teams to claim an outright win as they recorded a four-wicket victory at home to Himley.

Charlie Egerton’s excellent spell of 3-7 from seven overs ripped through the visitors middle order with only late hitting from Hasith De Silva (25 from 23 balls) ensuring they made it to triple figures.

The eventual total of 125 still proved a challenge to the hosts, who lost openers Alex Bingham (11) and Wes Griffiths (8) cheaply.

But Chris Whittock anchored the chase with a steady 38, before Ed Bragg struck 29 from 33 balls to ensure the home side got over the line to move just seven points behind their sixth-placed opponents in the table.

Wolverhampton’s win means West Bromwich Dartmouth find themselves even further adrift at the foot of the table, after taking only six points from their home match with defending champions Moseley.

Brinder Phagura struck an unbeaten 94 to help the hosts recover from 96-6 to post 218 all out from their 55 overs.

The all-rounder then got into the action with the ball, dismissing Moseley opener Asim Shoaib for a duck, after Akeem Jordan had already removed Abdullah Awan without scoring.

But Abraash Khan then steadied the ship with an unbeaten 68 and as rain arrived to limit the overs, a half century from Andy Umeed helped the visitors reach the winning draw target in the time remaining.

Kidderminster boosted their chances of beating the drop from Division Two with a seven-wicket win at Bridgnorth.

Skipper Liam Weston and fellow seamer Mateen Khan took four wickets each, including both openers for golden ducks, as the hosts were dismissed for just 186.

Daniel Lategan then hit an unbeaten 108 from 103 balls to help the visitors chase down the target inside 37 overs and earn a win which sent them climbing out of the drop zone.

There was also joy for Old Hill, who claimed a nail-biting one-wicket win over Dorridge thanks to the heroics of last pair Aamir Manzoor and Abu Saeed.

Coming together with 19 runs still required, they managed them in 8.4 tense overs. Sean Keeling-Wright had earlier taken a superb 6-37 as Dorridge were bowled out for 130 but the chase proved anything but straightforward.