CRICKET: KNOWLE and Dorridge made the short trip to Grange Road on Saturday to face rivals Dorridge.
Following an impressive win against Brockhampton, Knowle and Dorrdige won the toss and elected to field.
Opening bowler Henry Brookes (3/23) struck first with the fourth ball of the game as Andrew Umeed was caught behind for just six runs.
Will Mottram took the next four wickets in what was an excellent spell of bowling of 13 overs and figures of four wickets for 54 runs.
Firstly, Mottram trapped Forester-Smith for four runs before dismissing Ebad, Ahmad and Dodd soon after, bringing the score to 47-5 and putting a heavy weight on the home side’s middle order.
Ben Brookes (1-18) replaced his brother and took the important wicket of Dorridge captain David Ball, as the skipper mistimed a drive that fell straight into the hands of Tom Smith at mid-off.
The first sign of a fight-back for the home side came when Shazhad Ali (16*) and Mark Swanick (32) put on 44 runs for the seventh wicket, which included a few lusty blows from Swanwick as he tried to lead his team to a respectable total.
Ateeq Javid (2-11) thought differently however, as he replaced Mottram and took two quick wickets of Swanick and Ahmad before Henry Brookes came back on and bowled Dorridge’s 10 and 11 in consecutive deliveries, leaving Knowle and Dorridge a total of 112 to chase for the victory.
The second innings was almost a copy of the first.
Opening batsman George Worker was dismissed early on for just ten by James Ayres (3-23) and Oliver Haley fell shortly after as he was trapped lbw by David Ball, who went on to finish a fine spell with figures of 6-50 from 17 overs.
Captain Sam Reddish made 20 before he was caught behind off Ball while the middle order also struggled to create a partnership, with more quick wickets leaving the score at 57-7.
Alex Phillips – who came in at nine following an injury to his hand in the first innings – joined jack Grundy the crease.
Grundy made a positive 20 before he also became another of Ball’s victims.
At 91-9 Will Mottram joined Phillips in the middle.
The grit and determination did not allow Dorridge to take the final wicket and Phillips hit the winning runs and finished 34*, with Mottram finishing 1* from 44 balls.
Knowle and Dorridge skipper Sam Reddish said: “It wasn’t how we planned on winning the game but at the end of the season it’s these types of close matches that are pivotal in winning the league.
“I’ve got to hand it to Will and AP for the character they showed to go and win us the game, especially with Alex carrying an injury.
“We’ve moved up second in the league after Saturday and that’s purely down to the hard work the lads are putting in.
“We’re back at Station Road next week against Kidderminster, so hopefully we can take the positives from Saturday’s game and put more pressure on Shrewsbury with another victory.”
