Super Stour are chasing a double

The War Memorial Ground outfit beat the weather and Evesham on Saturday to climb to the top of the Premier Division, and they then followed up that success with victory over Lye in the semi-final of the Midweek Knockout Cup.

The clash with Evesham was the only top-flight match to take place and Stourbridge’s hard work in getting the ground playable was rewarded with a 20-point haul.

Having won the toss and inserted the visitors, skipper Josh Banks saw his bowlers make the most of the conditions as Evesham slipped from 29-0 to 44-7.

Dominic O’Reilly and Jitesh Jivan-Patel were the star performers with the ball as they reeled through their allotted 10 overs each to bag respective figures of 3-16 and 3-18.

Opener Sadam Khan carried his bat for an unbeaten 63 as Evesham posted 135-9 from their 50 overs.

Facing a revised target due to rain, Jujhar Johal maintained his fine form to lead Stourbridge to 85-1 and a nine wicket victory.

Johal, who scored an unbeaten century in previous week’s victory over Redditch, ended 50 not out.

Stourbridge, who have won five of their last six league games, now head the standings by three points from Redditch, going into Saturday’s home clash with third-placed Astwood Bank.

Old Hill will be keen to get back into action on Saturday when Chaddesley head to Haden Hill while Bewdley entertain Stourport.

Stourbridge added to the feel-good factor by booking their place in the Midweek Knockout Cup final with a tense victory at Division Two title hopefuls Lye on Monday.

Nadeem Hussain hit 71 not out and Waqas Ahmed 48 in Lye’s 154-7 from 20 overs. Johal took 2-25.

Stourbridge looked set for a comfortable win as Maverick Perry’s 68 helped them to 141-6.

But they lost three wickets for seven runs and were indebted to Dan Wale (42 not out from 25 balls) who saw them home with three balls to spare.

First Division leaders Hagley will provide the final opposition after beating Redditch.

Michael Stead (59 not out) and Paul Moragn (44 not out) helped Hagley to 140-2.

Redditch were then restricted to 120-7 in reply with Stead bagging 2-15.