Wolverhampton back in the Premier Division

Jubilant skipper Simon Lycett warned the hard work starts now for Wolverhampton after their promotion back to the Birmingham & District League Premier Division.

Saturday's five-wicket win over Shifnal, coupled with Wellington's defeat at Bromsgrove, was enough to secure the Danescourt club second place.

It takes them out of Division One and back to the top level of the Birmingham League at the first attempt, writes Matt Maher.

Lycett, who had played down Wolverhampton's chances in the build-up to the game, hailed his team's achievement but also sounded a word of warning for the task which lies ahead.

"It is going to be a tough year for us next year," he said. "We know we need to strengthen in a couple of areas and we need to start working on that pretty quickly.

"There is much to be done though, in truth, that would have been the case whether we would have gone up on Saturday or not.

"We are obviously absolutely delighted to be back in the Premier League. Division One is a very tough division to get out of and with Himley and Walsall coming down I'm sure it would have been even harder next year."

After the disaster of relegation 12 months ago, Lycett has begun a rebuild with the base of a young side.

It's been complimented by the brilliance of overseas star Wasim Jaffer and the likes of Worcestershire batsman Tom Fell, who followed up Friday's promotion with the county with a club celebration 24 hours later.

Still, Wolverhampton's chances looked slim before the game with Wellington only needing victory and Lycett admits he was shocked their rivals fell at the final hurdle.

He said: "We thought we had blown it when we lost to Wellington the week before. We couldn't quite believe it when we kept hearing the score from Bromsgrove."

Key to Wolves' chances in the top division next term might be persuading Jaffer, who finished the season with 1,393 runs, to take another spin on the Birmingham League wheel.

Lycett said: "I know he is keen to come back. But there is still a lot of work to do on that front."

Elsewhere, there was despair for Division Two promotion hopefuls Penkridge and Stourbridge, as Attock's win at previously unbeaten Leamington denied them the chance of crashing the promotion places.

Penkridge has lost the second promotion slot a week earlier with an agonising one-run defeat to Attock.

There was joy however for Halesowen who sealed hard-earned safety with victory over Whitchurch, though there was despair for Streetly.

They blew a shot at promotion from Division Three when they were bowled out for just 69 against Astwood Bank.

Steve Adshead hit 113 from 95 balls as the hosts piled up 271 from just 47.2 overs. Matt Bates was the pick of Streetly's bowlers as he claimed 4-33.

The total always looked like a formidable one but Streetly's innings will be giving them nightmares through the winter.

Only Sam Baters (23) and Chris O'Connor (14) reached double figures as they were bowled out inside 23 overs.