In-form Page falls five run short of second successive century

After winning the toss and electing to bat, Skipper Scott Rogers saw his decision rewarded with a 148-run opening partnership between Matt Page and Alex Smith.

Smith perished for 48, while Page was stumped four runs later for 95 as he went in search of the big hit which would bring up his second successive three-figure score.

Dale Glover came in and continued in the same vein with Tom Jefferson playing the holding role and they moved the score to 193 before Glover was caught off Bird for 36.

Rogers added a quick-fire 47 and Jefferson finished unbeaten on 40 as Rowington closed on 275 for five.

The Rowington bowlers then strangled the Tanworth reply with Steve Jay’s ten overs costing just 14 runs and gleaning a wicket as the visitors slumped to 24 for three.

Sam Turrell picked up two for aa from his seven overs anf the iron-like grip continued courtesy of Dale Glover (3-1-3-0) and Leon Clarke (5-3-4-2) .

However, it was Andy Shaw, who did the most damage, claiming four for six from his seven overs, including two in two balls, as Tanworth subsided to 62 all out.

sss Leamington Khalsa we left to regret missed opportunities as they went down to their third defeat of the season at home to table toppers Coventry Dunlop. Khalsa won the toss and elected to bat first on a dry pitch at Lighthorne. The Khalsa openers soon felt the heat as they were hit with the pace and bounce of Dunlop quickie Faisal Riaz. He soon knocked over the in-form Karanjit Sahota, finding a way through his defence and knocking back middle stump. A flurry of boundaries from Jemmel Bains pushed the Khalsa score before he was well caught at point by Rizwan for 19. A solid partnership from Aman Kalsi and Pardeep Sharma took the score past the 100 mark until Sharma unluckily chopped onto his stumps for 42. he was soon followed by to the pavilion by Kalsi who chipped one to short cover off the bowling of Harjinder for 46. A spell of devastating fast bowling from Faisal Riaz soon following as he cleaned up the Khalsa lower order ending with figures of 6-26. A pocket of resistance from Tejal Dulay (15no) and Jay Jolil (17) took the Khalsa score to a respectable 192 off 45 overs.

Man of the match Riaz opened the batting, and soon made light work of the Khalsa total. He took advantage of some lack luster Khalsa fielding as he was dropped twice on the boundary. He soon passed 50 before going for one shot to many and was caught off the bowling of Raj Kumar for 59. There was no let up for the Khalsa bowlers as a number 3 Adnan raced to his 50 with some lusty blows over the boundary before he was trapped in front off the bowling of Ashu Sharma who claimed his first of four wickets. A fragile Dunlop middle order struggled with the spin of Sharma and Jay Jolil who bowled well in tandem, but tired fielding from Khalsa let boundaries through to edge Dunlop closer to victory. A boundary from Butt sealed the victory in the 40th over by 4 wickets to keep Khalsa in 3rd position. Khalsa head to Wolvey on Saturday looking for an improved performance.