Cannock edge it as tense clash goes to the final ball

A tense clash at Littleworth Road went down to the final ball with Wombourne falling two runs short of victory as they closed on 183-9.

Going into the final over of the afternoon, the visitors needed five for victory.

But Cannock’s James Bye kept his cool as he picked up a wicket and conceded just three runs.

A half century from Zac Smith and 33 from opener Ben Hudson had put Wombourne seemingly on the way to victory as they reached 112-2.

But a collapse saw them reduced to 139-7. And despite 39 not out from skipper Tom Elwell they failed to get over the line.

Bye, Ainsley Ndlovu and John Cooke all took two wickets a piece for Cannock.

Ndlovu had earlier top scored with 67 as the hosts made 184-9 from 50 overs despite an impressive spell from Jack Bradley that saw him take 6-33.

Cannock bagged 14 points from the game while Wombourne had to be content with eight.

The individual performance of the day came from Beacon’s South African all-rounder Joshua Chesworth.

The left-arm paceman tore through the Wolverhampton battling line-up to record stunning figures of 8-31.

Fellow seamer Matthew Cartwright took 2-5 as Wolverhampton were shot out for just 65.

An unbeaten 27 from Ollie Green then saw Beacon home inside 14 overs for the loss of three wickets.

Brewood sit one place above Beacon in second spot after they secured a 24 run win over Milford Hall.

Batting first, Brewood were restricted to 183-9 from their 50 overs with James Clark (36) and Andrew Calvert (33) their top scorers.

In reply, Waqar Saleem (40) and Michael Astley (31) gave Milford a sound start with an opening partnership of 61.

But a middle order slump saw the innings slip to 119-6.

Alex Stenson (23) and Tom Webb kept their side in the hunt, taking the score to 152.

But the last four wickets fell for just seven runs as Milford’s good recent form came to an end.

League leaders Tamworth saw their outstanding start to the campaign continue as they ruthlessly won at Whittington.

The hosts were dismissed for just 98 runs with Jason Jakeman (4-15) producing an outstanding bowling display. And he received strong support from Liam Brazier (3-45) and Ed Smith (2-21).

Tamworth then achieved their target in just 7.5 overs and for the loss of only two wickets.

Penkridge claimed a winning draw at home to Fordhouses.