South Staffs League: Seventh heaven as brutal spell helps leaders stay perfect

The former Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire man took seven wickets as the home side made it seven wins from seven matches in the Premier Division.

Elstone bowled through the Lichfield innings, finishing with figures of 7-41 as the visitors were dismissed for just 106.

Craig Jennings then hit an unbeaten 72 from just 53 balls to see Hammerwich home by 10 wickets.

Milford Hall remain second in the table, 10 points behind the leaders, after an emphatic victory of their own over Fordhouses.

Sanjula Bandara top scored with 50 as Milford reached 235-9 from their 50 overs, Sahal Malvernkar (44) and Dominic Afford (31) also making valuable contributions.

Bandara then capped a fine all-round performance by taking two wickets as an excellent team bowling display saw the visitors skittled for just 113.

Aaron Afford and Will Davis also took two wickets apiece, while Clark Haddrell finished with best figures of 3-22.

Fordhouses defeat allowed Beacon the chance to leapfrog them in the table and they did so with an impressive 95-run win at Tamworth seconds.

Tom Elwell’s blistering 97 from just 77 balls, which included three sixes, lifted the visitors to 259-7 from their 50 overs.

Jake Cartwright also smashed an unbeaten 52 from 38 balls and then followed it up by taking four wickets with the ball as Tamworth, from 106-2, collapsed to 164 all out.

A stunning spell of bowling from Jack Pope helped Penkridge claim a four-wicket win at home to Wolverhampton seconds.

Pope needed just 23 balls to rip through the visiting line-up, first dismissing skipper James Turner to make the score 94-5. Just a few overs later, Wolves were 126 all out, Pope finishing with figures of 6-9.

Opener Amaan Hassan then hit 70 to anchor the chase and though wickets fell at regular intervals, Penkridge still got home relatively comfortably with four to spare.

Alex Hammond starred with both ball and bat as Walsall claimed just their second win of the season with an emphatic nine-wicket triumph over bottom club Cannock.

Hammond teamed up with Anaesh Patel to spark a stunning collapse as Cannock slipped from 91-1 to 144 all out.

He finished with figures of 5-22 from just 9.2 overs, while Patel claimed 4-41. Hammond then secured the man-of-the-match prize by hitting an unbeaten 92 from just 78 balls, including five sixes, to make light work of the chase. Cannock remain the only winless team in the top flight.

Pelsall suffered frustration as they were unable to force a win at Wombourne.

Opener Ahsan Akbar top scored with 60 for the visitors but it was 41 from Smit Mehta, who batted impressively with the tail, which helped them reach 193, having at one stage been 99-6.

Todd Henderson then took three top order wickets as Pelsall made early inroads to the reply, before three quick wickets from Mehta put victory in sight as Wombourne collapsed from 108-4 to 126-9.

But last pair Ben Hudson and Ben Thomas were able to see off the remaining 3.2 overs to earn their team the losing draw.