Birmingham League round-up: Smethwick maintain their lead at league summit
Division One leaders Smethwick rubberstamped their title credentials after cruising to victory by 167 runs at Wolverhampton.
Gurbaj Singh high-scored for Smethwick with 90 runs and was well supported by Bilal Shafayat (55) and Viken Kedariya (30).
Finishing the first innings on 251/9, Smethwick made easy work of bowling Wolverhampton out for 84, with Deepak Khatri collecting five wickets.
Halesowen strengthened their grip on fourth spot after condemning Knowle & Dorridge to defeat by 97 runs.
Opening with the bat, Chris Whitlock hit an impressive 93, with Alexei Kervezee (44) and Matt Pardoe (39) contributing significantly to the run count.
Chasing 286, Knowle & Dorridge fell short of their target despite Neil Pinner and George Maddy weighing in with 47 and 41 respectively, and were bowled out for 188.
Second from bottom Himley plunged themselves further into trouble after losing by 62 runs in a high-scoring clash at home to Barnt Green.
Amrinder Brar set the tone with 132 from 118 balls and Daniel Meredith also shone for the visitors with 84. Robbie Shurmer also scored 54 before Barnt Green were bowled out with a commanding 312.
Connor Smith (41), James Clarke (38) and Dinuk De Silva (31 not out) scored respectably for Himley, but were unable to match the magic of Brar, as they fell considerably short with 250.
In Division Two, West Bromwich Dartmouth kept their faint hopes of promotion alive after winning by six wickets at Kidderminster.
Ben Gibson high-scored with 85 for Kidderminster who finished the first innings on 251/6. West Bromwich responded in style with Ateed Javid's 79 and scores of 55 and 51 from Billy-J Cox and Dannyjo Cox respectively helping them to a winning score of 252/4.
Stourbridge failed to keep tabs at the top end of the table following a defeat at Handsworth by 19 runs despite Jujhar Johal's impressive 105.
Old Hill are not quite out of the woods at the other end of the table after they were comprehensively beaten by 146 runs at Leamington.
Nathan Hooker (89) and Chris Calcott (70) helped propel Leamington to 330/9, before Old Hill were bowled out for 184.
