MSG 2025 Premier Division Round Up - Week 13
By Jamie Dowley
Shelton upset the formbook as Wellington wobble…
On a sweltering day across the country, a shock in West Shrewsbury means the pack are closing on the league leaders.
Shelton have been on a difficult run of late and would have been big outsiders as they hosted Wellington, the league leaders seemingly marching on to another league title with the minimum of fuss. The reverse fixture at Orleton Park could have gone either way, Simon Jones’ side narrowly lost that one chasing 174, this time they made no mistake in targeting down 167 to record probably the biggest upset of the season in the division. The Wellington batting line up was missing Will Lewin and Matt Simmonds and it stopped and started, Josh McDonald (24), Luke Goring (31), Harrison Vaughan (30) and a top score of 38 from Aditha Maningar all added to the total but with Shelton regularly taking wickets through Sam Griffiths (2-37) and brother Ross (4-49), they couldn’t get away and when a 2nd drinks interval was taken with the scorer 158-6 , Simon Jones (4-49) reintroduction turned the game as he closed out the innings in short order, the last 4 wickets falling for just 9 runs with 8 overs still remaining. The home reply struggled early on, Hugh Morris striking 3 times to reduce them to 41-3 but new signing Jamilul Chowdhury dug in, playing a sensible innings receiving support from Saleh Ahmed (32). Nerves would have been frayed at 135-5, but Chowdhury saw it through with 55no and a massive 24 points for Shelton
A relieved skipper “ Thank goodness we got over the line but we never do it easily. They were on for 200+ in their innings but once the 2nd drinks came we wrapped things pretty quickly and 167 was within range for us”. On the new signing “Jamil batted really well paced his innings and looks a good addition for us, we have a big game at Newtown next week hopefully we can take some momentum in”
St Georges travelled to Quatt looking to do the double over the South-east Shropshire side and once again it was Sunny Singh who impressed as his 4-52 off 15 overs pegged back the home scoring. Tom Whitney, fresh from his outstanding century in the League v County game made 28, while there were contributions from Chris Miller (31), Alex Starr (29) and Alex Biddle who held the innings together with 51 as Quatt reached 208-9 off 50 overs, while Mo Khattak assisted Singh in taking 3-47. The Dragons run chase was a solid and patient affair, Ibrahim Jiva and Harjivan Dhinsay laid good foundations with 26 and 35 respectively but at 106-4 the game could have gone either way. Step forward Faizan Khan the Pakistani pro is enjoying another fine season and his 64no off 64 balls ensure they chased down the score with 3 overs to spare, that man Khattak once again assisting with 23no.
Club captain Faisal Khan “it was a tough toss to lose but we bowled well although we weren’t at our best in the field. 208 was a tricky total to chase at a ground like Quatt but what an innings from the man we call Mr Reliable (Faizan), he stayed calm and Raheel supported him with some very unorthodox shots, it’s a really good result for us a nice 24 for the Dragons!”
Allscott were the odd ones out in the Premier Division and chose to bowl first at home to Whitchurch, and the decision was eventually vindicated as they chased down 210 for the loss of just 3 wickets. The visitors juggled their batting order around, with allrounder Shaf Ahmed opening up in place of Maz Hasnain and the decision of the veteran Pakistani to slot in at number 4 looked justified as he top scored with 72. He received useful support from Inam Ul Haq (44) while 15yr old Ollie Dyson chipped in with 24. At 171-5 with 13 overs to go a big total looked likely but spinners Jason Summers (2-58) and Kudeep Devatwal (3-49) stuck at it well for their combined 30 overs and the away tail failed to wag. The home reply was built around a tremendous innings by Summers and after Devatwal fell for a relative failure only making 39, Luke Thornton with an unbeaten 34 saw it home with Summers carrying his bat for 84. For Whitchurch, only Shabbir Khan with 2-39 made an impact, and they will be starting to worry about being dragged into a relegation fight. For Allscott , they actually drop 2 places to 4th but their 20 points keeps them in the chasing pack and their 4th straight win really pleased Callum Starling “ We are in a good place at this stage of the season, it’s a really good group, but we won’t put any pressure on ourselves. Summers was absolute quality, he really is like a fine wine, but everyone is chipping in with the bat ,so much so that I was always confident we would chase down their total”
Ludlow captain Jason Oakes clearly took inspiration from his South African compatriot Wiann Mulder, as he selflessly declared with 5 overs to go of his sides innings at Madeley when another century was in the offing. Oakes was on 85no but chose to end the innings at 252-3 and try and encourage the visitors to go for the win. As well as the captains score there was also 76 from recent signing Syed Tanzeel Naqvi, while Luke Miles contributed a more modest 29 and Deon Patel 24no. Martin Boyle (pictured) steamed in for 15 overs, a herculean effort in the heat and was rewarded with 2-57 but the rest of the away attack was rather expensive. Mithun was one of the pricy bowlers but the Sri Lankan pro made amends with a superb 100no in the reply but unfortunately apart from 30 from Oli Davies no one could else really make a score and the innings ended on 199 in the 45th over with the Sri Lankan stranded. Joe Williams continued his fine season with 3-62 while that man Oakes weighed in with 4-41 and another man of the match performance.
Ludlow Chairman Phil Parker “it was a good decision by Jason as if we had made 300 they may have played for the draw but credit to Madeley they went for it and at one stage I thought their pro was going to see them home. But it ended well for us despite that slight scare”
With Ed Ashlin absent at the wedding of former captain James Shaw, Sentinel were captained for the first time by Connor Cheshire and the wicketkeeper batsman was delighted to claim a maximum 24 points against Newtown. Batting first, Tom Griffiths was back in form with 54 while Jonny Evans was put up the order and made a useful 38. The away spin bowlers showed good control like they did last week. Sam Baugh got through the full 15 overs for 3-53, while Nathan Smith (3-52) and Marco Malan (2-40) also checked back the runrate, so it was mainly down to Jacob Binnersley who struck 44 off 35 balls that enabled a total of 225ao with 3 overs left unused. The Welshmen had 53 overs to get the runs but their reply got off to a disastrous start with Ben Price bowled by Cam Watson in the first over, and it was his new ball partner Binnersley who then ripped through the top order taking 4-31 to leave them at 89-7 off 12 overs. Rhys Jones made 35 of those and David Laird 30 ,an impressive scoring rate but far too many wickets lost in the early overs and It was left to Aaryan Dixit to finish the job with 4-48 off 4.5 overs(!). All in all a quite bizarre and frenetic run chase from Newtown as they ended 140ao in 18.5 overs. Stand-in skipper Cheshire was more than happy however “it was definitely a good toss to win in the heat and it was great team performance with Tom Griffiths, Jonny and Jake all doing well against their spinners who bowled neatly on a pitch that offered turn. Jake then bowled with good pace, it was nice to get the game finished early”
Finally, the form team in the division right now are Wem as they made it 5 positive results in a row with an 8 wicket win at Bridgnorth. The home innings was built around 68 from Peter Scott but excellent control from all the Wem bowlers only allowed them to reach 192ao in the 50th over. Last year’s star bowler Tom Astley finally seems back to fitness and his 2-30 off 13 overs meant they didn’t miss Alex Ollerenshaw, and with captain Jim Astley taking 3-34 and 14 year old Ralph Davies also taking 3 wickets, an away win looked a pretty safe bet at the interval. Harry Astley (26) and Sam Peate(39) got the reply off to a good start and Karabo Mogotsi was then joined by Tyler Ibbotson, these two formed a fine unbroken partnership of 120 as the visitors raced to victory inside 33 overs. Ibbotson really excelling with a rapid 72no, while the South African pro contributed a solid 48no. Wem on a roll but any talk of a late title challenge was flatly denied by the captain Astley “We stuck at it well in the heat, Tom really impressed getting through 13 overs in the conditions, and the rest of the bowling unit supported him well. We put the bad balls away in our innings with all 4 batters showing good intent. But no, I don’t see us competing for the title now we are too far adrift of Wellington”
So with teams placed 2nd to 6th all winning and the leaders losing, the door is slightly ajar for any side to put a run together and challenge Wellington. Next week sees a big Telford derby as St Georges host Allscott, while traditional rivals Wem and Quatt face off in North Shropshire.
