Martyn Davies declares as umpire collapses

Davies had launched an assault on the Wroxeter and Uppington bowlers in the closing overs. But home skipper Josh Gough declared on 355-3 to allow a reshuffle of the officials, leaving his No.5 batsman stranded on 164.

Gough and Davies had prospered on an excellent track and fast outfield as they compiled an unbeaten 275 partnership in their side's emphatic 159-run victory.

"I felt another (score of) 200 was possible as we had 19 balls to spare, but when the umpire collapsed because of the heat we declared so everything could be sorted out," admitted Davies, who hit a club record unbeaten 224 against Cound last month.

"It was ironic really as I hadn't particularly set off to get a lot of runs on Saturday. In fact, I'd told our top three to take their chance as the conditions were so good. It was a good wicket and the outfield was like lightning, so I knew it was going to be hard work for the bowlers."

However, Wem's top order vanished for 79 runs allowing Gough – who finished unbeaten on 103 – and Davies time to wield their bats in the heat.

"I got dropped early on so I was a bit fortunate, but the runs began piling up and we were hitting 12 and 13 an over towards the end," added Davies.

Yet Wem's big total was hardly needed as Wroxter slumped to 93-6 before Nick Bevan (56) offered some middle-order resistance.

Skipper Bevan and Robert Davies put 50 on for the seventh wicket to lift the visitors out of the doldrums before Gough (3-44) and James Astley (2-19) polished off the tail, leaving Wroxeter well short at 196 all out.

Wem's sixth success of the summer leaves them 19 points adrift of second-placed Ludlow and South Shropshire.

But as they are set to lose several key personnel to football commitments later this month, including Davies who plays up front for Market Drayton Town, the consensus is they are not expecting to make a late charge for the top.

Their match-winner admitted: "Realistically we'd be happy with a top-five finish.

"We'll lose three or four of the lads to football, that's just the way it is with out team, so we're trying to get as many points on the board as possible as early as we can."

High scores were the order of the day in the other Premier Division games thanks to perfect batting conditions.

Nick Hudson crashed 112 for Worfield as his side ran up a daunting 327-4 from their 50 overs, but they had to settle for a winning draw against Allscott.

Manny Singh and James Parker reduced the visitors to 117-6, but Jason Allen (64 not out) and Ian Middleton (51 not out) shared a unbeaten partnership of 124 to take the Allscott reply to 241 at close.

Albrighton skipper Ben Miller also got the run-rate flying as he hit 25 boundaries in his 144 against Cound.

Mark Bissell maintained the momentum with an unbeaten 107 as Albrighton declared on 294-3, but they couldn't force victory.

Graham Trow (50) and Joe Yapp (64) kept Cound together and Adam Williams and Calum Marsh held on at the close although their side was precariously poised at 222-9.