Jonathan Miles misses out on a perfect 10

A Shropshire cricketer has missed out on a rare perfect 10 – because of his own catch.

Oswestry's left arm seamer Jonathan Miles was on course to take all 10 wickets in his side's Birmingham League Division Three clash at Studley on Saturday after dismissing the first nine batsman – seven caught, one leg before and one caught behind.

That left him with sensational figures of 9-7 from eight overs which included four maidens.

But his hopes of creating history by claiming all 10 scalps were ended when Ian Davies took the wicket of the final Studley batsman Stuart Harris – caught by Miles at mid-on.

"I wouldn't have been able to live with myself if I had dropped the catch on purpose," said Miles, a 26-year-old sports coach at Oswestry School, who had a brief spell playing for Nottinghamshire seconds in 2010 and has featured for the Unicorns against First Class counties in CB40 matches.

"It's a team game and the most important thing was that we got the win which kept us on track for promotion.

"I haven't taken nine wickets in an innings since I was really young so it was a great day." The exceptional spell from Miles saw him take seven wickets for just two runs off the first 26 balls, including two double wicket maidens.

"When Ian was bowling that over, I think he was going a bit wider than normal trying not to take a wicket but it was really ironic that Jonathan took the catch," said captain Mike Robinson.

Oswestry now lie joint-top of the table with Penkridge after romping to a 196-run victory.

Alex Huxley top scored with 70 in his side's score of 240 before they were dismissed in the last of their 55 overs.

Studley were then bowled out for 44 thanks to the heroics of Miles.