Although Shrewsbury were unable to defeat Barnt Green at Cherry Hill Road, they maintained their lead at the top of the Birmingham Premier Division table due to Kidderminster Victoria’s failure to win against bottom club Wombourne.
Both Shrewsbury and Kidderminster earned comfortable winning draws while Brockhampton nipped into second place thanks to a 57 run victory at one of the form teams Wolverhampton.
Shrewsbury won the toss and elected to bat at Barnt Green and they were given a solid platform by Ed Foster (105) and Steven Leach (58) who put on 135 for the first wicket.
After Leach’s dismissal, wickets fell regularly to Zain Shahid (5-55) and the title favourites closed on 263 for six from 55 overs.
In reply, Barnt Green soon slipped to 34 for three and 62 for five but a sixth wicket stand of 108 between Warwickshire’s Sam Hain (72) and skipper Andy Sutton (65 not out) enabled them to close on 198 for seven.
Opening bowler Sam Griffiths took 3-32 for Shrewsbury who lead the table by 38 points.
Kidderminster slumped to 99 for six against Wombourne before a seventh wicket stand of 87 between Richard Kimberlin (61) and Jonathan Wright (53) helped them to 216 all out in 52.5 overs with Dorset seamer Ed Denham taking 6-67 for Wombourne who remain anchored to the foot of the table.
Mark Grant (60) and Henry Bartlett (40) battled responsibly for Wombourne but were unable to master experienced seamer Gareth Williams who finished with 5-42 as Wombourne failed to prevent their hosts from earning an extra two points as they finished on 172 for eight.
Chris Boroughs (60), David Exall (49) and Adam Hewlett (42) saw Brockhampton to 212 for seven at Wolverhampton against an attack that included Bangladeshi Test Player Enamul Haque (4-53) and Worcestershire’s Chris Russell (3-62).
Wolverhampton then struggled against Boroughs (4-33) with Adam Quiney top scoring with an unbeaten 35 before they crashed to 155 all out.
A tidy bowling performance by Walsall restricted visitors Knowle & Dorridge to 205 for eight at Gorway with Josh Bowker and Jack Warren taking two wickets apiece.
A fourth wicket stand of 96 between Dominic Hendricks (69) and Sam Reddish (52) improved K & D’s position from 38 for three but their total failed to trouble the 2012 Champions who raced to an emphatic eight wicket victory with 16 overs to spare following a second wicket stand of 116 between Tim Maxfield (106 not out) and David Powles (57).
Staffordshire all-rounder Maxfield’s innings included four sixes and ten fours as he warmed up for the game against Lincolnshire at Longton.
Walmley’s survival hopes took a knock following a comprehensive 141 defeat at Himley who are now looking to clinch an upper mid-table position following a spluttering start to the season.
Nathan Round (91) and Tom Kohler-Cadmore (70) were the leading protagonists as Himley piled up 288 for eight before dismissing Walmley for 147 with seven balls remaining. The 19 year old off-spinner Ryan Brown took 4-36 and Danny Smith took 3-39.
West Bromwich Dartmouth moved further away from danger at the foot of the table with an exciting five run win at Berkswell who were dismissed for 174 in reply to the visitors total of 179.
Imran Arif (6-59) took the first six Dartmouth wickets to fall as Dartmouth wobbled to 85 for six and 113 for eight but Junead Zaman (36) and Mohammed Saqib (27) helped them to recover to their eventual total.
Brinder Phagura (3-39) and Zaman (3-18) did early damage for Dartmouth reducing Berkswell to 78 for six before a seventh wicket stand of 72 between Dominic Ostler (49) and Chris Cheslin (38) raised hopes but when they were dismissed, Dartmouth squeezed home in a nail-biting finish.