Birmingham League: Title race alive after top two play out thriller

Smethwick kept their hopes of winning a third consecutive Birmingham League title alive with a thrilling one-wicket win at rivals Knowle and Dorridge.

Victory saw them pull within two points of their hosts at the top of the Division One table with three matches left to play.

Deepak Khatri and Yasir Ali were the heroes, as both made crucial contributions with ball and bat on a dramatic afternoon.

The pair both took two wickets each as the home side reached 253-9 from their 50 overs.

Khatri then smashed 106 from just 85 balls to keep hopes of victory alive after Smethwick had stumbled to 27-4 in reply.

Yet it was Ali who held his nerve to get them over the line. From a position where Smethwick looked second favourites at 194-8, he shared a half century stand with Manraj Johal (34) and was still there at the finish when the win was achieved with nine balls to spare.

Halesowen’s title hopes suffered a major blow as they went down by 43 runs at home to Barnt Green.

Charlie Egerton and Ed Bragg took three wickets each but the visitors still reached 213-9 in a match reduced to 38 overs-per-side.

That proved too much for Hales, who could only reach 170-9 in reply despite 60 from Fin Goodman.

An unbeaten century from Ollie Walker kept Himley on course for a top half finish with a 15-run win over Kenilworth Wardens.

Walker’s ton lifted his team to 216-5 from 37 overs and he then made some early inroads to the Kenilworth reply with the ball, taking two early wickets to halt early momentum.

By the close he and Dinuk De Silva both had three wickets to their name as the visitors reached 201-9.

Young Warwickshire star Theo Wylie struck a century to keep Milford Hall’s promotion hopes alive in Division Two.

Wylie’s 108 from just 104 balls helped his team reach 306-9 against second-placed Berkswell and he then chipped in with a couple of wickets to close out a huge 161-run win.

That moved Milford to within 22 points of their opponents with three matches to play, while Wolverhampton are also still in the mix after a three-wicket win at home to Leamington.

Kidderminster remain in deep relegation trouble after losing by 52 runs at home to Stourbridge while West Bromwich Dartmouth missed the chance to pull further clear as they lost at Tamworth.