Star man Thaman shines again as Milford march on

After losing a wicket without a run on the board, James Davis (42) and Waqar Saleem (42) compiled an 81-run second wicket stand to give Milford a platform to build from.

Run-machine Ibbadat Thaman then took control with a superb century – stroking his way to 117 not out from 74 balls. He was given support by Sahal Malvernkar (37) as Milford posted 268-4 from their 40 overs.

In reply, Fordhouses reached 137-3 but then lost four wickets for just 28 runs – a position they were never able to recover from as they finished 36 runs short on 232-8. Parminder Singh made 48 and Lewis Peat was 41 not out, while Sam Jeavons picked up 3-38.

“I’m pleased with the way we’re going about it at the minute,” Milford captain Stuart Phazey said.

“We’re still a bit sloppy at points and we can get better, but all in all we are happy with the way things are going. Batting-wise I can’t really fault the lads, everyone has contributed.

“The whole of our top six have had a score of 30 or more and partnership-wise on Saturday there was an 80, a 50 and almost a 150 partnership towards the end.

“In the field, it’s difficult when you have a few early wickets and you’re ahead of the game to stay with it.

“I’ve set a bit of a target for the lads and we need to respond to that now and step it up with the ball and in the field. We need to be sharper and finish the job properly, rather than coasting through for the last 15 overs or so.

“We want to bat strong, first or second, and we’re backing our ability with the ball to either restrict a team or bowl them out.”

With four wins from four, Milford face Wolverhampton on Saturday who have only managed one win from their three games.

“I want five out of five wins in the first five weeks and we’re almost there,” Phazey added.

“The lads know that I’m fairly hard on them and we won’t allow complacency to kick in. We’re going to turn up and set he same standards that we do every week, we approach every game in the same manner.

“I don’t know a great deal about Wolverhampton, so it’s new territory for me so we’ll see where things go.”

Following the Wolverhampton test, Milford play second-placed Tamworth, who cruised to an eight-win against Old Wulfs, on August 22 and Phazey believes that fixture could be the turning point.

“For us the challenge is when we play Tamworth a week on Saturday, with them coming down from the league above and maintaining pretty much the same side that they had last year,” he said. “It will be an interesting battle and we’re already looking forward to it.”

Penkridge are another side with a perfect record, having recorded three wins from three outings.

Their latest success came at Wombourne, where the hosts had looked well set in their chase for victory.

Attiq Chishti top scored with 73 and Aqab Ahmed added a quickfire 37 not out as Penkridge made 210-7.

At 162-3 in reply, Wombourne appeared to be closing in on victory. But a collapse saw them lose their last seven wickets for 35 runs as they were dismissed for 197.

Nathan Howell made 48 on his league debut for the hosts, with fellow opener Jack Lewis hitting 44 and Matt Poutney 32.

Lichfield chalked up a four-wicket success at home to Beacon.

Oliver Walker continued his solid start to the season with 59 in Beacon’s total of 158-9. Graham Wilson returned impressive figures of 3-18.

Rich Taylor-Tibbott and Stuart Fielding both contributed 30s as Lichfield got home in the 31st over.

Brewood are up and running after registering their first win of the summer.

Tim Maxfield, Stuart Wedge and Ben Thomas all took two wickets each to help restrict Hammerwich to 150-8 – Matthew Deyzel top scoring with 58.

Greg Clark (56) and James Clark (44 not out) guided Brewood to their target inside 27 overs.