Wem and Madeley tied in Marston's Shropshire Premier League

The race for the Marston's Shropshire Premier League title is shaping up to be a thriller - with Wem and Madeley tied at the top after the latest round of matches.

Wem had to settle for 12 points from a losing draw in their home clash with fourth-placed Newport, who remain in with a great chance of bouncing back to the Birmingham League just 12 months after coming down.

And that was enough for Madeley to draw level with the north Shropshire side thanks to their high-scoring victory away at Trysull & Seisdon.

Wem were put to the sword by Newport's Indian pro Aditya Jain, who hit a dashing 125 which included 18 fours and two sixes.

That was the foundation of the visitors' total of 244, and it proved more than enough as Wem were restricted to 186-8.

Nick Watkins claimed the crucial wicket of skipper Brian Jones for just 12 and it was left to Will Savage to hold the Wem innings together.

When he was finally dismissed for 59 with the score on 134-7 it seemed likely that Newport would push on for victory, but an unbeaten 29 from Ian Gillespie enabled Wem to hang on.

Aditya rounded off a fine all round display to finish with 4-39 from his 16 overs.

"It was disappointing not to gain the full 20 points, but we came back with the lion's share of the points, which was the object of the exercise," said Newport chairman Bob Williams.

Anchoring

"We felt that we had perhaps fallen 30 or so runs of the target on such a fast outfield, so it reflects well on our bowling and fielding that we managed to contain the strong Wem batting line-up so efficiently."

Madeley looked to have a tough task on their hands at Trysull as the hosts racked up a challenging 283-8 — Andrew Newman hitting 76, Robert Dimmack jnr 60 and Chris Fullwood 50.

But a brilliant unbeaten 134 from Stephen Pugh helped Madeley chase down their target with an over to spare.

He got excellent back-up from Thomas Dangarembizi (44) and Andrew Laycock (33).

Third-placed Much Wenlock closed the gap on the leaders, despite narrowly missing out on victory at home to Quatt.

They had to settle for a winning draw and 17 points, skipper Chris Lewis anchoring their innings with 55 in their 251-8.

It proved too much for Quatt, who could only reach 190-8, despite 63 from their captain Adrian Evans. Shailendra Sengar took 3-28 for Wenlock.

By CHRIS HUDSON