Wood swings the momentum in Kenilworth Wardens’ favour

Wood took full advantage of humid, overcast conditions to claim five for 56 from an unchanged 17-over spell as the former champions slumped to 118 all out.

Wardens then cruised home in 38.1 overs on the back of former captain Scott Stenning’s compact 46.

Walsall’s decision to bat first on a worn Glasshouse Park pitch looked a good one as their openers progressed to 31 without undue difficulty.

However, once Ali Wilkinson removed former Old Hill opener Mike Hingley, Wood tore through the rest of the visitors’ top order.

Pakistani Test batsman Umar Amin clipped the paceman to square leg, after which some reliable catching behind the wicket reduced Walsall to 97 for six.

Alex McChristie battled hard but his colleagues had no answer to Wood’s lively away swing.

Sitanshu Kotak’s slow left-arm then proved beyond the compass of the tail-enders as Wardens swiftly polished off the last five wickets for the addition of 21.

McChriste, who had arrived at the fall of the first wicket, finished with an unbeaten 38 from 92 balls with four boundaries, while Kotak logged an impressive four for nine from 7.4 immaculate overs.

The early dismissal of both home openers gave Walsall a glimmer of hope before Stenning and Kotak (30) combined in a match-clinching alliance.

Their third-wicket partnership added 59, with Stenning, who struck six boundaries in his 92-ball knock, displaying sound technique and some elegant strokeplay before Martin Donald’s unbeaten 20 steered Wardens home.

Udit Talati’s four-wicket spell narrowly failed to force a win for Wardens’ 2nd XI at Walsall.

The off-spinner grabbed four for 29 from 11 tidy overs as the hosts battled to 116 for eight in response to Wardens’ 187 for five.

As a result, Wardens took the lion’s share of the points to reinforce their position at the top of the Division One table.

On a difficult, slow Gorway surface, Talati received good support from Wardens’ seam attack in which Nick Whiting (3-47) and Rajan Bhatti, who returned one for 15 from 12 accurate overs, were prominent.

Home openers Juspal Sidhu (29) and Richard Underhill (20) made some progress,but thereafter only Vikas Maher (20) defied the visitors’ charge towards victory.

Earlier, Talati (26) enjoyed his role as a stop-gap opener to add 50 with partner Raj Chohan.

Robin de Regt (41) then joined Chohan to add 61 for the second wicket before useful contributions from James Madley (19) and James Jordan (15 not out) saw Wardens to an above-par score.

Chohan struck six fours in his 62, while Jonathan Moore (2-25) was the pick of the home attack.

3rd XI