South Staffordshire County League round-up: Hammerwich’s early season form continues

Callum Brodrick’s team have won eight out of their opening nine clashes this season with the other being abandoned due to rain. 

Against Dan Green’s Beacon side, Hammerwich won the toss and batted first but were bowled out for 115 in the 40th over. 

Jake Cartwright took 4-36 for Beacon from 13 overs with Andy Malkin top-scoring for the hosts with 31. 

Wickets continued to tumble in the reply, with the visitors soon reduced to 79-8 thanks to 6-46 from Hasnain Nawaz. Josh Thomas offered some brief resistance for Beacon with 40 off 71 balls until Dan Mason was the last man out of a 27-ball duck. 

Just below Hammerwich are Milford Hall. They trail the league leaders by four points after they thrashed Pelsall at the weekend. 

Pelsall had won the toss and elected to bat but they were skittled by former Leicestershire seamer Will Davis as he steamrolled through the hosts picking up 7-38 as they were bowled out for 149. 

Milford lost four wickets in the reply but Ibbadat Thaman (35*) and Davis (33*) saw the team over the line. 

Fordhouses, who were last year’s champions, are sitting third in the league, they beat Cannock by 93 runs on Saturday. 

Skipper Jem Stack won the toss and they compiled a big total of 282-6 before declaring in the 47th over. Mubeen Rashid (54), Sachin Jayawardena (73) and Saqib Akbar (62) all made half-centuries as the home side's bowlers toiled. 

In the reply, Ben Lockley top scored with a run-a-ball 41, but Johar Ahmed took 4-56 as Cannock were eventually skittled for 189 in the 42 over - they are bottom of the division. 

Just above them are Lichfield and they were beaten by four wickets at the weekend by Penkridge. Lichfield batted first and made 189-9 from their allocation. 

That was largely down to Stuart Fielding. He made 104 not out from 137 balls with the second highest score being 24. Dean Lones was in good rhythm with the ball, taking 5-42. 

Alan Lones (60) and Mark Pearse (62) both passed 50 during the chase with Penkridge reaching the total six wickets down. 

Wombourne had started the season well but their form has dipped of late. That was until they beat Tamworth Seconds by 160 runs. 

Wombourne made 258-5 from their 50 overs with Chad Brandrick making 114 not out and Jimmy Howell making a hard-hitting 75 from 70 balls hitting seven fours and three sixes. 

Ollie Sivitier was the star with the ball taking 6-34 from his 14 overs while Ben Hudson took 4-21. 

Walsall picked 17 points from their clash with Wolverhampton Seconds. Hashim Iqbal made 64 and skipper Daniel Betty made 57 as they amassed 256-9 from their 50 overs.

Hassan Qaumi made 75 in the reply as Wolves ended on 175-7 and collected eight points for getting a losing draw.