STUART Cope starred with bat and ball as Kenilworth Cricket Club eased to a comfortable six-wicket win against Walmley 2nds.
Cope took 3-27 with the ball to restrict Walmley to 177 all out before he then top scored with the bat as his impressive 57 from 66 balls steered Kenilworth to victory.
The result lifts Kenilworth up to second in the Warwickshire County League Division Two table.
Walmley won the toss and elected to bat as a fine early spell from Paul Lawrence (2-28) restricted the visitors to 30-2.
And the wickets continued to tumble after impressive spells from Connor Shingler (4-22) and Cope to leave Walmley in trouble on 100-7.
The visitors were indebted to Calum Shackleford who top scored with 67 before he eventually fell to the bowling of Cope.
Steve Rhodes (1-29) was Kenilworth’s other wicket taker as Walmley were all out for 177 in 49.1 overs.
In reply, Kenilworth’s openers reached 106 without loss inside 20 overs as Sandeep Kumar (48) and Cope found the boundary rope with regularity.
A strong third-wicket partnership between Quinn Bungard (36 not out) and Adam Huxford (24) guided Kenilworth to a deserved six-wicket win.
Moreover, the club’s second XI secured a 16-run win against Nether Whitacre thanks to some wayward bowling and a fine knock from Louis Smithson.
Smithson (60) held Kenilworth’s innings together, supported by Anay Joshi (40) and Danny Boneham (31), as 75 extras helped the visitors reach 307 all out.
However, Nether Whitacre opener Nick Edwards (108) scored a superb century to keep the home side in contention.
He was eventually dismissed by Matt Bain (3-61) before further wickets from Smithson (3-73), Tom Skinner (1-44), Joshua Charlwood (1-56) and Babu Balasubramanian (1-56) saw Nether Whitacre bowled out for 291.
The result means Kenilworth remain second in the Warwickshire County League Division Seven East table.
Kenilworth’s 3rd XI romped to an eight-wicket win against The Lenches after bowling out their opponents for just 84.
An early blitz of wickets settled the game as a contest as Ben Kelley (3-8), Matty Dadswell (3-18) and Sam Davies (2-22) all shone with the ball despite Charlie Flood’s 35.
And an opening wicket stand of 60 between Uma Shanker (50 not out) and Peter Huxford (10) put Kenilworth on the brink for victory before the visitors sealed the win in just 19.4 overs for the loss of two wickets.
The result means Kenilworth remain second in the Cotswold Hills League Fifth Division.
However, Kenilworth suffered a seven-wicket defeat against Dorridge in their second Sunday Smash outing of the season.
Kenilworth found runs hard to come by as Bungard (51), Daniel Horner (16) and Matt Casey (10 not out) were the only batters to reach double figures as the home side finished on 108-8.
In reply, despite an early scalp for Tom Skinner (1-29), Dorridge needed just 46 balls to reach the required total as Ashish Chakrapani finished unbeaten on 47 with Dadswell (1-13) and Shingler (1-14) taking the other wickets.
