SCCL Premier Division Round Up Week 7
Lunn leads from the front as Quatt ends Allscott’s perfect start.
By Jamie Dowley
Allscott Heath's 100% record is no more and their lead at the top of the Premier Division table is down to 7 points after they were blown away by Quatt home captain Jamie Lunn in a surprisingly one sided contest at the The Quatt Oval. Electing to bat first, Callum Starling’s side were well set at 49-0 off 11 overs but when Max Ferrington went for 25 and was followed soon after by Jason Summers adjudged LBW for 29 the game quickly shifted. Lunn at one end bowling with pace and accuracy combined with a superb piece of controlled off spin at the other from Jed Edwards, the hosts assumed complete command. Edwards bowled 10 overs straight through for just 12 runs, but it was Lunn who picked up the prize wicket of Kuldeep Devatwal, caught and bowled, the Indian maestro never got going in the face of sustained accuracy. From then on a succession of wickets well to the former Himley bowler as he ended with his best figures for 3 years taking 6-20 from 10 overs. Then it was over to Alex Biddle to mop up proceedings, his 3-8 meant the league leaders were shot out for 107 a total that was unlikely to challenge the stacked home batting line up. That said, Allscott fought back well and they defended their total for over 30 overs, Jason Summers in particular bowling tidily taking 2-25 off 10 overs one of whom was overseas Nipun Karunanayake whose personal form must be something of a concern to the Quatt hierarchy. At 71-4, with Tom Whitney gone for 38, it was over to Todd Henderson and Luke Daly who played very sensibly to see their side comfortably home. Photo credit to Quatt CC
Victorious captain Jamie Lunn “As a team we all contributed but obviously it's always nice to play a big part personally. We were excellent in the field and the bowlers really built pressure by bowling accurately throughout.
Defeated captain Callum Starling “It was a bad day at the office, we didn’t do enough with the bat, but we defended it as well as we could and kept working hard in the field as you just never know. We go again next week”
With the match at Quatt heading to an obvious conclusion I decamped to St Georges for their encounter with Wem, a match up that looked a tough one to call. In front of a large crowd, Wem’s innings was a series of tidy contributions with no one making 50. Abhishek Reddy (41), Harry Chandler (36), Matt Cohen (26), Tom Astley (28) and 24no from Ralph Davies all helped get the total to a competitive 222 with some excellent bowling from Babar Khan (3-31), Ashish (2-36), Ali Mustafa (2-33) and Zahid Iqbal (2-35) all performing well for the Dragons. With Wem missing Alex Ollerenshaw and shock new signing Dan Bowen not available yet, captain Jim Astley gave the new ball to his brother Tom and Ralph Davies and the young off spinner struck in his first over bowling opener Waqas for 0. With fellow youngster 17 year old Tom Graves also impressing at times, and Tom Astley giving little away, Wem were very much in the game and a patient approach was the watchword of the home batting. At 77-3 off 20 overs Ashish entered the arena and his batting was at another level to anything previously seen. The Indian all rounder played an array of quality shots all around the park and in partnership with Ali Mustafa (32no) the home side inched towards their target. Ashish fell for 82 with just 6 needed for the win, a target they achieved with 10 balls remaining as Wem bowlers fought hard to prolong the contest, Davies the standout bowler with 2-33 off 10 overs, while Jim Astley picked up 3-41.
Sentinel finally made it into the winners enclosure at the 7th time of asking as they beat divisional rivals Newtown at Albert Rd. Batting first at 131-3 with Jordan Baijnath going well on 54no and Sam Baugh also set fair, Ed Ashlin introduced veteran Shane Gwilt and off spinner Alex Johnson into the attack and the pair combined to completely change the game in the space of 10 overs, as they blew the Newtown middle and lower order away in a devastating joint spell. Gwilt with 3-21 and in form Johnson, (a player surely on the radar of the selectors for the League Representative team) 4-28. That all meant the Welshmen were dismissed for 159, a total that Aussie opener Nick Bateup tore into with great gusto, as he struck 93 off 73 balls. With Craig Williams chipping in with 25, the Engines cruised to their target by 7 wickets with over 26 overs still remaining. A much needed win for Ed Ashlin’s side who would have been starting to get concerned at their start to the season.
Talking of concerns these are worrying times for Ludlow as they made it 6 defeats in 7 as Shelton comfortably chased down 198 to win by 7 wickets at the Burway. Overseas player Nathan Engelbrecht has made a slow start but here he played a solid containing innings of 51 and while he received support from Will Sparrow who made 38 and Josh Bowen with 21, the innings had totally derailed by the 39th over with the score 138-9. However for the 2nd week running the tail wagged, this time Joe Wiliams chose the perfect moment to produce his first 50 (59) at this level and with Kate Brazier doing a good job holding down an end, Williams manoeuvred the ball around as they added 63 for the last wicket. Shelton skipper Jack Morris led the attack with 3-34 while Ross Griffiths and Saleh Ahmeed took a brace apiece. The run chase was a pretty comfortable affair, especially after Phil Raikes had made 33 and Dan Walker 24. That allowed Saleh Ahmed (68no) and Navindu Vithanage (31no) to see it home with over 10 overs to spare.
Jack Morris “Another great win for us and to go back to back is a good feeling, we bowled and fielded well for the first 40 and then allowed them to get a few more than we would have liked. Our batting was solid with Phil getting us off to a great start and then Saleh showing us what a quality player he is at this level, supported by Dan and Nav. It would be lovely to make it a hatrick of wins in the big derby next week (v Sentinel) but we take nothing for granted”
Whitchurch were slightly written off pre-season in some quarters but are proving their critics wrong with their 5th win in 7 games and their 4th on the trot. This time their victims were winless Shrewsbury 2nds who it must be said for large parts of this match were in contention of causing something of an upset. Batting first, in form pair captain Mike Robinson and Iftikhar Khan got in and out with 22 and 26 respectively and at 136-7 the innings could have petered out. But that reckoned without Elliot Bowen (pictured with Iain Marsh, Whitchurch Chairman) who chose an opportune moment to produce a maiden 1st team century as his 104 made with good support from the tail enabled his side to reach 234-9 off 50 overs. For Shrewsbury, Harvey Shepherd took 3-33 and George Jenkins 2-50.
Ed Prideaux opening up for the county towners has the ability to hit a long ball and his quick fire 45 got the chase off to a flyer. At that point the game turned again as Robinson introduced spinners Ollie Dyson and Shabbir Khan and the pair soon made inroads with Dyson taking 3-27 and Shabbir 4-37 both supported by some outstanding work behind the stumps from Iftikhar who took 5 dismissals. At 169-9 the game looked done but while Steve Barnard was there there was still a chance and his superb 79 got the hosts within 34 runs before he was bowled to end the contest.
Winning captain Mike Robinson “We have good momentum now and there is plenty more to come from us with multiple players now in form. Elliot has threatened a knock like that before but he paced it superbly and it was a fantastic innings. We are fighting on all fronts and will be there or thereabouts come the end of the season”
Last but not least Wellington outgunned lowly Madeley at Orleton Park . Batting first captain Dan Vaughan got them on their way with 49, a score matched by Morgan Ward, while at the other end professional Jason Oakes made hay while the sun shone in amassing 172 off 148 balls with 26 fours. Hugh Morris continued his good form to see it through with 39no as his side totalled 361-6. Salim Ahmed stuck at the task well for the visitors with 3-65 , and in the reply it was very much a case of damage limitation with captain Mithun making 82 and Bas Ahmad 47 in a team total of 184ao that secured 2 batting points. Harrison Vaughan again impressed with 3-30 while Oakes duly topped and tailed a complete performance with 3-16.
So we enter the last week of this batch of 8 Win Lose games, but the big games come thick and fast. Leaders Allscott host Wellington in a massive local derby with the latter keen for revenge on a side that did the double over them in 2025, Shelton entertain Sentinel in another derby while on Thursday all the clubs are in action as its Round 2 of the League KO.
