Cricket round-up: Shrewsbury slip off top spot after Halesowen defeat
Shrewsbury slipped off top spot in the Birmingham & District Premier Cricket League Division One after falling to a home defeat against Halesowen by seven wickets.
They had headed into the weekend in red hot form after beating Knowle & Dorridge and Harborne respectively in their first two games, but that run was stopped in its tracks after their first loss of the campaign.
Skipper Lewis Evans won the toss and elected to bat for Shrewsbury, which looked as if it was an inspired choice when openers George Hargrave (32) and Peter Clark (30) helped them reach 90-2.
Will Parton and Dustin Melton also added 24 and 22 respectively, but Shrewsbury were unable to deal with an unstoppable bowling assault by Halesowen.
Cian Baker-Smith and Hasan Mahmood took four wickets each for Halesowen to bowl the hosts out for 150.
With bat in hand, former Worcestershire ace Alexei Kervezee led the Halesowen response with an outstanding 50 from just 28 balls.
Kervezee dazzled for Halesowen, hitting seven 4s and three 6s in total.
Meanwhile, Chris Whittock and Mahmood weighed in with 32 apiece while Simon Gregory added 26 to secure victory.
Halesowen leapfrogged Shrewsbury, who started the weekend in top spot, in the table, following their first defeat of the season.
In Division Two, Shifnal suffered a third successive defeat after losing by three wickets at league leaders Dorridge to leave them third from bottom in the table.
Batting first, Sam Scrimgeour scored 59 for Shifnal, including seven fours and one six, while opener Rahul Kaushal (40) and Charlie Home (42) helped them finish the innings on 242/8.
The visitors looked destined for their first league win of the season when Dorridge slumped to 88/5, but Adnan Riaz (54) and Mahmood (94 not out) propelled them on to 118 for the sixth wicket. Mahmood was the star of the show, hitting 10 fours and six sixes.
Danyal Khan also scored a respectable 44 to help maintain Dorridge's 100 per cent record in the league, with three wins from three.
Ben Roberts, Cameron Jones and Callum Horne collected two wickets each for Shifnal but Dorridge eventually finished 244/7 inside 41 overs.
Elsewhere, Worfield clinched their first victory of the season after condemning Kidderminster to their third successive defeat by winning by six wickets at home.
Batting first, Daniel Lategan hit an impressive 96 from 98 balls for Kidderminster, totting up nine 4s and three 6s.
Nathan Jukes also weighed struck 71 to finish - including nine 4s, and Ben Griffin contributed 38 to help Kidderminster finish on 280/4.
Worfield responded excellently with Will Cook registering 96 and Ross Aucott amassing 65 from only 57 balls.
Cook hit ten 4s and three 6s from 105 balls while Aucott struck nine 4s and two 6s.
Rishin Patabedige (43) and Aman Hussain (40) also added useful runs as Worfield finish 283/4.
That win saw Worfield climb into eighth-place and consigned Kidderminster to the foot of the table.
