All-round heroics from Imran Jamshed were not quite enough to earn Aldridge an outright victory against Cannock and Rugeley.

But Jamshed’s 58 not out with the bat and 4-34 with the ball secured a winning draw for Andy Bowers’ side and kept them out of the bottom five and 34 points clear of Cannock and Rugeley.

Jamshed top-scored with his unbeaten half-century in Aldridge’s 155-5, with captain Bowers setting the platform with 40 at the top of the order.

Rizwan Hussain smashed a quickfire half-century in Cannock and Rugeley’s reply, but Jamshed’s four-wicket haul and 3-10 from left-arm seamer Ross Shelton left them holding on for a losing draw at 145-7.

Bowers said: “I have been working out the averages this week. Imran has already scored almost 500 runs and taken 37 league wickets, at an average of around 15.

“At the halfway point in the season those figures aren’t bad at all.”

Ikbal Massood and Mahroof Azam tore through the Penkridge batting to hand Bloxwich a 10-wicket victory.

Massood claimed 5-43 and Azam took 4-27, as Penkridge were dismissed for 114 with Jim Lewis 1-27 claiming the other wicket.

Bloxwich reached their victory target with ease without losing a wicket.

Shiraz Tahir continued his impressive recent form with 82 not out in his side’s 115-0 with John Ackrill, recalled to the side from the second XI, unbeaten on 27 at the other end.

The win leaves Bloxwich in mid-table but captain Matt Langston has not given up on his pre-season target of a top-four finish.

He said: “We have done pretty well in the first half of the season and we have just had one real dip, when we lost three games in a row.

“We have been competitive in pretty-much every game and we still feel we can get that top-four place if we carry on playing good cricket.”