Shrewsbury captain Ed Foster insists the Birmingham League premier division title battle can not yet be classed as a two-horse race.

The London Road men are 15 points adrift of leaders Knowle & Dorridge in the chase for the biggest prize in Midlands cricket, with the pair having opened up a 22 point gap over third placed Kidderminster Victoria.

But Foster – whose side entertain Smethwick tomorrow – insists it’s too early to assume that only two clubs can contend for the title.

“We are only just over halfway in terms of game played and with it being 20 or 24 points for a win, a lot of teams can still contend,” he said.

“We are in a good position but we know we have to keep winning games.

“We play Knowle & Dorridge next week so it’s important we go into that on the back of a victory.

“But Smethwick have improved a lot over the last few weeks. I said at the start of the season they could be a dangerous team and they are proving that now.”

Defeats

With pace bowler Michael Barnard still expected to be unavailable due to injury, Shrewsbury are likely to make on change as William Davies comes in for Steve Barnard.

Wellington make the trip to Kenilworth Wardens aiming to build on last week’s morale-boosting winning draw against Moseley, a result which ended a run of three successive defeats.

“We needed to arrest the slide and we did that and now we have to push on,” said team manager Terry O’Connor.

“I think it’s a big surprise to most people that Kenilworth are near the bottom after finishing in the top three last season.”

Wellington make just one change with captain Anthony O’Connor returning at the expense of Martin Delaney after missing his first game for six years last week.

The Orleton Park men are fifth in the premier division, but will be only too aware they are only 32 points off the bottom in what is an increasingly congested bottom half of the table.

By JAMES GARRISON