Bridgnorth (182-4) beat Shifnal (181) by six wickets

The visitors chose to bat first on what appeared to be another excellent Cricket Meadow batting wicket, and made a good start to reach 65-0 after 16 overs, cashing in on some wayward early deliveries from the home opening seamers.

The introduction of Dave Exall brought about some control to the run rate, but it was skipper James Ralph who made the first breakthrough to trap Home lbw, before Exall induced a nick behind to the returning Gareth Mumford.

After Exall (2-32) continued with an economical spell, it was once again the wrist spinning duo of Ralph (4-44) and Sam Whitney (4-72) who made the main impact on the first innings. Aided by some excellent glovework from Mumford, along with good catches in the outfield, the visitors were pegged back after their solid start. With seven wickets falling in the last 13 overs, the Cricket Meadow men did well to limit Shifnal to 181 all out.

In reply, a new look opening combination saw Karl Quiney joined by Ian Gregory, and the pair got their side off to a great start with an 81-run stand. Gregory in particular started very positively, backing up skipper Ralph’s decision to replace himself with him at the top of the order.

Further batting order shuffles saw Simon Gregory continue his great form this season with a valuable 46 at number three, and another good partnership with fellow Shropshire batsman Ryan Lockley (27 not out) saw their side assume almost complete control of the contest.

The job was finished with few alarms in the 49th over with Lockley and Exall taking Bridgnorth over the winning line. Now just two points behind league leaders Sutton Coldfield and 35 ahead of third place, this week’s game at struggling Brewood gives the Cricket Meadow men a chance to reclaim the top spot in BDPCL Division Two.