Dartmouth hopes get a boost with Himley win

Dartmouth claimed 15 points on the road in a dramatic clash at fifth-placed Himley with Ismail Mohammed's half-century the highlight as the visitors looked to close the gap on sides above them in Premier Division One.

The 28-over clash went to the final ball with all results possible at Himley.

Opening bowlers James Lunn and Hasitha de Silva posed plenty of problems to the visitors but Mohammed led the way for Dartmouth with a 41-ball 57 and with Shozair Ali unbeaten on 32 Himley were set 135.

Home skipper Ollie Westbury responded with 47 and Navindu Vithanage made a breezy unbeaten 27 but the hosts who needed 14 from the final over came up just short at 130-7.

Dartmouth trail second-bottom Wolverhampton, whose clash against Barnards Green was a total washout, by six points.

Halesowen took seven points from a losing draw at Knowle & Dorridge, who climbed to the top of the table.

Alexei Kervezee stood firm with an unbeaten 49 for the visitors to ensure they enjoyed a share of the spoils as the new league leaders failed to claim Halesowen's final two wickets, finishing with 119-8 chasing their revised target of 186 from 31 overs. Paceman Ollie Currill (4-19) was scourge of Halesowen batters.

Knowle & Dorridge's top order earlier all passed 30 in support of Hamza Shaikh’s patient 45 and despite Matt Pardoe taking 4-54 Halesowen were set a challenging 185 in 31 overs.

Halesowen's seven points kept them third, trailing Smethwick in second by 20 points after the latter's home clash with Berkswell was abandoned.

Old Hill beat the weather in Premier Division Two but were dealt a thumping at home by Shrewsbury.

Table-toppers Shrewsbury continue their fine form while a miserable start from the mid-table hosts proved to be the theme of the afternoon.

Old Hill were down at 27-3 before Ryan Derrick (53 not out) proved their only resistance on the way to 127-5 from 22 overs.

The Shropshire visitors made very light work of the chase, however, and did so for the loss of just three wickets inside 14 overs with some consistent scoring as Will Parton made 34 with Ed Barnard 33 not out in an 83-ball response that saw the boundary cleared on 12 occasions.

A key clash at the foot of the division saw Kidderminster drop into the bottom two having been leapfrogged by hosts Wellington, who claimed the winning draw.

Batting was hard work throughout in a low-scoring affair in Telford as shown by the home side only hitting eight boundaries in a 41-over innings that closed on 129-6.

Kidderminster fared even worse after tea eventually settling for a losing draw at 109-8 against a home attack in which Dan Lloyd claimed 3-28. The visitors' best came through Rob Cross (24) and Amaan Hassan (28).