2025 MSG SCCL Premier Division Round Up week 10
By Jamie Dowley
Hat-trick hero Heath in Seventh Heaven
Alex Heath (pictured) has long been heralded as a fine fast bowling prospect, and the 18 yr old produced the best bowling performance in the Premier Division so far this season as Whitchurch picked up a welcome 24pts at St Georges. The tall right armer who is on the ECB Pathway is bowling as quick as anyone around at present, and he stunned the Dragons with 7 of the first 8 wickets including a sensational hat-trick as he took 7-26. The key drama unfolded in the 7th over as he took the perfect fast bowlers trio of bowled, caught behind and lbw to destroy the Georges batting line up including overseas pro Faizan Khan as the 2nd of the 3 victims. Fast Bowling restrictions meant Heath was limited to just the 7 overs, but it left the hosts 50-9 and with him gone they were able to reach 92ao thanks mainly to club captain Faisal Khan who struck a breezy 37. It was a total that could have potentially been a challenge for a side with known batting frailties and missing talisman Maz Hasnain. However despite losing regular wickets the classy Iftikhar Khan again showed the way and his 49no saw it through with 5 wickets down. But the chat after the game was all about young Heath with chairman Iain Marsh particularly fulsome in his praise “He’s a great lad, a really popular member of the side and he’s really starting to fulfil his undoubted potential. I don’t think anyone likes facing him in the league with his height and pace. It’s a big win for us against a very dangerous side, it’s just a shame we are over 100 points behind Wellington.!”
Talking of Wellington, they marched on and their 10th straight win owed much to what can only be described as the perfect batting display at Sentinel. The hosts chose to field and with openers Dan Vaughan and Dan Lloyd continuing their outstanding recent form it was a decision that perhaps Ed Ashlin came to regret, as the pair put on 245 for the first wicket. Vaughan with 115 and Lloyd 113, scoring their 2nd and 3rd centuries of the season respectively, perhaps departing at just the right time to allow the middle order to wreak havoc on a tired Sentinel attack with 79 coming in the last 6 overs. Luke Goring (35no) and a 4 ball 20 (!) from Josh McDonald got the total up to a magnificent 341-6. For the Engines, Jacob Binnersley and Alex Johnson picked up 3 wickets each, albeit at some cost. In the home reply, pace bowler Oliver Smith struck twice in the first over, but from that point Sentinel battled hard and with contributions from Ashlin (35), Johnson (44), John Leah (57no) and 35 from Cam Watson, it meant they reached the 46th over at 231-7. However, cometh the hour cometh the man and it was perhaps fitting that Dan Lloyd on his farewell appearance, stepped up with 3 wickets in 4 balls to see his side home once again.
Ludlow keep the pressure on the leaders, as they bounced back to winning ways after a couple of off performances, in chasing down 307 with 11 balls to spare at Shelton. It was a fantastic day for the respective overseas professionals, firstly for Yuvraj Sharma who struck a magnificent 164no off 122 balls and together with Saleh Ahmad, who made exactly 100no, they closed the home innings just 2 down, hammering 91 off the last 8 overs. One man who wasn’t put off the daunting total was Ludlow captain Jason Oakes and after losing 2 early wickets he was joined by Syed Tanzeel Naqvi, the pair adding 154 in 23 overs. When Naqvi departed for 58, Oakes was joined by Deon Patel, the pair put on 50, but when South African was dismissed by Sharma for a quality 122, the door was slightly ajar for the hosts. It was soon closed again as Patel (68no) and Simon Fletcher (25no) saw Ludlow home without further loss against an attack that was badly missing captain Simon Jones, who remains on the sidelines with injury. That said, a total of 616 runs for only 6 wickets lost says more about the fine batting conditions than anything detrimental about the bowling attacks!
Wem were left immensely frustrated as for the 2nd week running they failed to take the last wicket, this time at a cost of a whopping 10 points as hosts Madeley batted out a losing draw. Earlier in the piece Wem had made a solid total of 244-9, Sam Peate with 60, Karabo Mogotsi with 51 and Matt Cohen 33no, all helped to push the score along but Madeley were once again guilty of conceding too many extras, this time 54 were added to the score. That made a big difference to the eventual result as the hosts closed out on 218-9, Andy Laycock (43), Nadeem Ahmad (35) and Mithun (31) the chief contributors. Tyler Ibbotson produced his best bowling spell of the season with a fine 4-58, but veteran number 11 Steve Maden was able to see the game out at the death and earn a useful draw for his team. Wem will be rueing 17 dropped points in the last 2 games.
Newtown travelled to old rivals Allscott Heath on the back of 3 straight wins but they were unable to make it a 4th in a comprehensive defeat. Opting to field first the Welshmen reduced their opponents to 24-2, but that meant the early entrance of in-form Kuldeep Devatwal and the overseas pro played another superb innings in compiling an even 100 off 102 balls. In fairness to Newtown they chipped away at the other end and a total of 222-9 would have not been too daunting at the halfway interval. But with Luke Thornton in outstanding new ball form it soon proved way too many, the Shropshire allrounder with 5-38 and with Callum Starling and Devatwal taking a pair each, the visitors could only manage 76ao. An odd statistic from the game in that of the 22 players who batted only one scored more than 19 and he made 100.
Finally, Quatt raced to victory in the derby match with visitors Bridgnorth. After deciding to bat first, away captain Mark Macperson-Lees was one of a plethora of early wickets as Dan Handley shone with the new ball in taking 5-19. Only Ian Gregory and Matt Martin made double figures as their side was bundled out for 81, a total that was never a problem for Tom Whitney as he cut loose for a quick 60no and a welcome 24 points for Alex Biddle’s side to relieve the pressure that had been building on them in recent weeks.
So next week sees the halfway stage of the season reached with Quatt heading up to Whitchurch for a renewal of a fixture that doesn’t quite carry the importance of last seasons title decider, while the derby between Wellington and Allscott could be a good match up. In next weeks report we will also look at the keys individual stats so far this campaign.
