Wham BHAM! Huge Shivam ton guides CNW to victory
A BREATHTAKING innings from Coventry & North Warwickshire’s Indian pro Shivam Bhambri sentenced Bedworth to an emphatic 233-run Warwickshire Premier League round eight defeat.
The 26-year-old right-hander lashed 150 from just 105 deliveries as the visitors took full advantage of a superb Miners’ Welfare Park pitch to rack up 371 for six.
Opener Ryan Parnell (43) then top-scored for the shell-shocked hosts who were bowled out in the 34th over for 138.
There was little hint of what followed as Matt Nobes (35) and former Bedworth opener Will Iles added 57 for Coventry’s first wicket in 15 overs.
Iles’ fluent even-time 54 included ten boundaries and he added a further 54 with Bhambri before being bowled by Juggy Nandra.
This set the stage for Marco Higgins to join the Indian ace in a third wicket alliance worth 104 before he fell to Ash Cutts for a 55-ball 42.
Bhambri’s fourth-wicket partner Taran Toor then upped the tempo appreciably by making 41 from just 26 balls during their 115-run partnership.
When Bhambri finally fell to Finn Haynes he had found the boundary 17 times and cleared it on a further five occasions in his outstanding 150.
Enough time remained for Cov’s acting captain Harry Horsley to thrash 25 from just eight balls before the innings closed at 371 for six from 50 overs.
Fizz Abdullah (2-55) was the pick of the home attack while Waqar Dad joined Cutts, Nandra and Haynes in picking up a wicket apiece for a home side whose response was soon in difficulty at 30 for three. With Toor (3-29) and George Neal (3-13) then sharing six wickets the end eventually arrived in the 34th over.
CNW lie in second place behind Sutton Coldfield who claimed a rainimpacted winning draw at Bablake.
The hosts responded to the visitors’ 191 for eight with 117 for five from 41 overs. Jacob Squire-wood (49) and Lee Thomason (46) top-scored for Sutton.
Defending champions Stratford lie third after Nick Pepper’s 68 saw them to a two-wicket home win over Attock with six balls remaining.
Arsalaan Mahmood earlier made 79 of the visitors’ 225 all out.
Adam Hussain’s 70 plus 68 from Gary Hawkins carried Olton to 208 for seven against Rugby who then closed out a losing draw at 165 for seven on the back of Wes Landsdale’s unbeaten 68.
Aston Manor edged ahead of Solihull Municipal in mid-table after Munir Tanzil’s unbeaten 61 steered them to a five-wicket win. Muni had earlier posted 212 for six thanks to a fine partnership between Nathan Boyce (92no) and Alex Roslyn (65).
Sarmad Bhatti’s brilliant unbeaten 102 plus a Sachin Dubb half-century and five wickets from Jamie Hall steered Walmley to a 113-run win over Moseley Ashfield in a tense finale.
After the hosts closed their 50 overs on 221 for seven, Hall reduced Ashfield to 43 for six before their lower order dug in around Charlie Greening’s defiant 128-ball 33.
Fourth-placed Walmley then had the last word as Ashfield were bowled out for 108 with just two balls remaining.