2026 SCCL Premier Division Round Up - Week 4
Summers brightens up dank day while Robinson and Shabbir lead the way for Whitchurch.
By Jamie Dowley
We have new outright leaders in the SCCL Premier Division as the rain caused 4 games to be abandoned, with just Allscott Heath and Whitchurch gaining victories.
Callum Starling's side are 12 points clear at the top as his Allscott side dodged the rain in South Shropshire to pick up a vital 20 points at the Burway where an under strength Ludlow side succumbed to an 8 wicket defeat. Missing captain Luke Miles, stand-in skipper, Sam Edwards stuck at the task for a patient 24 off 73 balls, while Jack Condiffe (30) and Nathan Engelbrecht (20) also made scores in a home total of 139ao. Jason Summers is bang in form at present and he was the chief protagonist with 4-25 while Brad Thornton and Matthew Hutchings each took a brace of wickets. Maz Hasnain fell in the 2nd over of the Allscott reply but that was as good as it got for the hosts as first Summers (32) and then Kuldeep Devatwal (57no) put the Ludlow attack to the sword as they raced to victory inside 22 overs.
I was at Orleton Park for the first part of the day where Quatt were flying at 175-4 off 33 overs against champions Wellington on another excellent batting wicket. Tom Whitney starred with 89 while Alex Biddle was also looking good before an unlucky dismissal for 23. After a heavy downpour the subsequent persistent light drizzle prevented any further play.
That enabled me to dash over to Heath Rd where earlier home captain Mike Robinson played a fluent 85 and Iftikhar Khan struck an even 50 as Whitchurch totalled 194 all out in the 40th over. That said at 154-2 with 10 overs remaining Shelton did well to drag it back with Sam Griffiths leading the attack again with 5-32. On a ground they scored over 300 on last time, Jack Morris’ side would have been hopeful of chasing it down but a strong batting line up on paper didn’t really fire. Young quick Alex Heath has had a mixed start to the season but here he really bowled excellently with pace and accuracy in taking 3-19. Saleh Ahmed with 27 hung around for a while but then Shabbir Khan took centre stage, the experienced leg spinner ripped through the middle order proving practically unplayable with figures of 5-9 off 8 overs. Rarely will you see such accuracy from a wrist spinner and although Ryan Cumming with 33no at least made the scorecard respectable as Shelton made 137, it was Shabbir who led his side off to rapturous applause from the home patrons. A very useful 20 for Whitchurch but Shelton's 6 points means they are no worse off than the sides abandoned.
Wem’s 100% start to the season ended in the rain at Soulton Rd against Madeley, who were unable to start their reply to a home score of 266-8 off 40 overs. The big story of the game was Abhishek Reddy finally being dismissed for just 89(!), while a trio of in form batsmen all made contributions, Sam Peate with 56, Matt Cohen 33 and a blistering 50 off just 29 balls from Martyn Davies. Away captain Mithun bowled his usual tidy spell for 3-22 off his 8 overs.
A superb 57 ball hundred from St Georges pro Ashish Ashish was the highlight of their 270-5 against Newtown with Mohammed Aqeeb carrying his bat for 98no. Reino De Klerk took 3-55 for the visitors but when the rain came at 39-3 in the reply with no further play possible, it's fair to say the Welshmen would have been delighted to get back over the border with 6 points, with the Dragons taking just the 9.
Finally the Shrewsbury derby between Shrewsbury 2nds and Sentinel at London Rd was also frustratingly abandoned with both teams still in the game. Captain Rob Foster with 38, Harry Webster with 29 and 27 from Richard Williams were the high scores in a home total of 156-9 off 40. Cam Watson was the pick of the Engines attack with 3-31 while Alex Johnson and Matty Cliffe both picked up 2 wickets each. The Sentinel reply was cut short at 9-0, but at least both teams have stopped the rot after starting the season with 3 successive defeats.
Well it’s the calm before the storm as we head into the Bank Holiday double header next weekend. Game of the day on Saturday is Allscott v Wem while on Monday, St Georges face off with Wellington in a really tasty Telford contest.
