KENILWORTH CC’s difficult season continued with a four-wicket defeat to Knowle and Dorridge’s 2nd XI to remain in the Warwickshire County League Division One relegation zone.
The defeat means Kenilworth sit 11th in the table, 17 points behind nearest rivals Nuneaton who are the only other team currently in the relegation mix.
Connor Shingler top scored for Kenilworth with a fine knock of 70 after openers Joe Atkinson (1) and Christopher Prophet (10) both fell cheaply.
And Shingler was briefly supported by Henry Curran (20) and Adrian Sellar (32) with the latter’s dismissal leaving Kenilworth on 168-6 having earlier been reduced to 92-4.
However, a quickfire 33 not out off just 22 balls from Steve Rhodes and 15 not out from Jonathan Sparks lifted Kenilworth to 204-6 from their 50 overs.
In reply, K and D made a great start as openers Jake Sammons (51) and Isaac Maddy (39) put on 71 runs for the first wicket before Rhodes (1-35) broke up the partnership.
Atkinson (4-26) more than made up for his shortcomings with the bat as he took a host of key wickets to give Kenilworth hope – accounting for Maddy, George Baines (22), Tom Smith (4) and Mohammed Fareed (0).
That left K and D on 138-6 after Tom Skinner (1-35) had David Jakeman (10) caught only for Jamie Hughes (49 not out) and Vidhan Iyer (25 not out) to steer the visitors home.
Kenilworth’s 2nd XI settled for a losing draw against league leaders Coleshill in Division Seven East after the home side posted a mammoth 339-8 from their 50 overs.
The visitors decision to ask Coleshill to bat first backfired as opener Anser Mahmood top scored with 91 before David Phillips (63) and Sirjeel Mir (51) put on 99 runs for their fifth wicket.
Joseph Tate (2-51), Will Sheehan (2-68) and Ed Smith (2-82) all took two wickets apiece with Sam Davies (1-27) and Joshua Charlwood (1-76) also finding success with the ball.
However, wickets did not come at regular intervals which allowed Coleshill to post a dominant score which Kenilworth were never going to chase down.
And Kenilworth were reduced to 80-3 in reply, losing Mark Stranks (21), Dave Smithson (0) and Daniel Horner (6) early in their run chase.
Opener David Edmunds (90) impressed, hitting 15 boundaries, as he fell just 10 runs short of a century and formed a good partnership with Danny Boneham (40).
The pair put on 98 runs for Kenilworth’s fourth wicket and ensured they took eight points from the fixture to sit fourth in the table.
Lastly, the club’s 3rd XI were beaten by five wickets against league leaders Coventry Blues in the Cotswold Hills League Division Four to remain in the drop zone.
Kenilworth were limited to 142 all out with Sam Leach (26), Keeran Umashanker (24), Anthony Kerry (16) and Will Thompson (16) the only players to reach double figures with the bat.
Coventry eased to the required total in 28.4 overs for the loss of five wickets as Swapnil Rana (2-16), Thompson (1-13), Leach (1-21) and Thomas Best (1-32) all struck with the ball whilst Andrew Dadswell took three catches behind the stumps.
