Young rescues Wardens before Talati rips through Walmley

After Young’s superb 84 rescued Wardens from the depths of 18 for four to a competitive 211, the visitors looked to be coasting to a comfortable win at 140 for two.

However, off-spinner Talati had other ideas and he ripped through their batting to claim the fine figures of five for 42 as Walmley slumped to 197 all out.

Wins in their final two matches, against county rivals Berkswell and Knowle & Dorridge, will now deliver a very creditable top-half finish in Wardens’ first season back in Midlands cricket’s top flight.

Walmley seamers Lewis Harrison (3-13) and Shozair Ali (3-38) did the early damage to the hosts’ top-order, finding lateral movement from a testing length.

Fifth-wicket pair Young and Sitanshu Kotak then dug in to see the hardness off the ball, before expanding their ambitions against the change bowlers.

The Indian ace grafted 98 balls for his 45 and, following his dismissal, Dan Wood provided further solid support to the Zimbabwean right-hander, whose more aggressive approach yielded ten boundaries and two maximums in an excellent even-time 84.

The Walmley response got away to a flying start courtesy of openers Danial Chaudhry (56 from 74 balls) and Harrison (22), who added 65.

Former Scotland batsman Navdeep Poonia (38) then joined Chaudhry to take the chase to 121 for one, before both fell in quick succession.

After the dangerous Chris Booth was run out for 23, Talati took centre stage.

He claimed five for 42 from ten excellent overs to sweep away the visitors’ middle-order.

Kotak (2-16) and Matt Hancock (1-28) provided accurate support as Walmley lost their last six wickets for 21 to slip to a 14-run defeat with ten balls remaining.

Wardens 2nd XI’s recent slump continued, with their promotion hopes receiving a further jolt courtesy of a ten- run defeat at Halesowen.

After leading the table for much of the season, they now need to win both remaining fixtures and hope other results are favourable in order to gain promotion.

Nick Whiting and Paul Henderson kept the hosts quiet for 20 overs, during which time they crawled to 35 for one.

However, Johal grafted his way to 53, after which third- wicket pair Shoaib (67) and Patel (64) cut loose to good effect.

Tom Ballinger grabbed a couple of late wickets, but was unable to prevent the hosts piling up 240 for six.

Wardens’ openers Mark Pidgeon (33) and James Madley (29) started strongly, before both fell in quick succession.

Harry Johnson (32), Raj Chohan (36) and Dan Phillips (39) all contributed useful quick runs from the middle-order, but none went onto the match-winning contribution required.

Jones finished with two for 25, and Johal two for 31 as Wardens were dismissed ten shy of their target with four balls remaining.