Cricket round-up: League leaders Halesowen cruise to another victory
Halesowen retained their place at the Division One summit after cruising to victory at Himley by 101 runs in the Birmingham & District Cricket League.
The league leaders were first to bat and moved into a commanding position thanks to Chris Whitlock's 75 and a 57 from Alexei Kervezee.
Simon Gregory (25) and Hasan Mahmood (20) kept the run count ticking along nicely, as Halesowen finished the innings at 238.9.
Himley fell miserably short of their target when they were bowled all out for 137 by Halesowen.
Ollie Westbury, Ollie Walker and Navindu Vithanage hit 27 each for Himley, but Ciaran Baker-Smith and Masihullah Qazkhill took three wickets apiece to propel Halesowen to another victory.
Third-place Smethwick sit just five points adrift of top spot after securing a home victory over Ombersley by four wickets.
The visitors opened with the bat with Tom Hinley impressing with 39 from 45 balls. However, that would prove the highlight for Ombersley who were subsequently bowled out for 129 inside 40 overs.
Deepak Khatri took four wickets for Smethwick, Tazeem Ali collected three, while Gurbaj Singh and Zen Malik too one apiece.
Smethwick made easy work of their response. Singh high-scored with 44 (not out) from 35 balls, while Rawait Khan (35 not out) and Malik (33) helped Smethwick reach 132/6 after just 24 overs.
Wolverhampton fell to defeat against second-place Knowle & Dorridge by three wickets at home.
Ramanjot Jaswal high-scored with 48 from 54 balls, while Jack Stanley (37), Sam Ellis (36) and Charles Jackson (32 not out) helped them finish the first innings at 196/7.
Yet Knowle & Dorridge came back even stronger when they took the bat thanks in large part to George Baines' impressive 57.
Nick James also hit 45 (not out) coupled with Oliver Currill's tally of 44 from 54 balls to guide Knowle & Dorridge into pole position.
Neil Pinner also struck 19 as the visitors secured victory by finishing the innings with 199/7.
Joe Stanley, Sam Ellis and Charlie Jackson took two wickets apiece for Wolverhampton, while Asad Ullah collected the remaining wicket.
In Division Two, West Bromwich Dartmouth had a winning draw on the road against Stourbridge.
Batting first, West Bromwich stormed into the ascendency with Ismail Mohammed striking a phenomenal 122 from 111 balls.
Billy-J Cox also hit 58, and Bruce Thomason (38) and Ateez Javid (20) helped West Bromwich finish the first innings at 264/7.
Mavarick Perry high-scored for Stourbridge with 30 but they could only reach 181 runs from their innings, as West Bromwich took a winning draw.
Elsewhere, Kidderminster were condemned to defeat against league leaders Dorridge by two wickets.
Nathan Jukes (54) and Mateen Khan (53) impressed for Kidderminster, who finished 218/8.
But it would not prove to be enough as Edward Thompson (67 not out) led the comeback charge to take victory for Dorridge with 219/8.
Old Hill slipped down the table after falling to a home defeat against Shifnal by four wickets.
