KENILWORTH Wardens’ relegation to Birmingham & District Premier Division Two was confirmed last weekend, after an agonising seven-run defeat at West Bromwich Dartmouth.
It was the Wardens’ 11th loss of the campaign and one that proved the nail in the coffin, confirming an outcome that had been expected for a number of weeks.
The hosts batted first with Kenilworth opting to field, a decision that seemed just with Joe Jordan (3-39) taking the first three wickets to limit West Bromwich to a 52-3 score.
While no single batsman stood out for the hosts, their score continued to build much in part to 58 runs from extras – accounting for their biggest source of runs – with 46 being wide balls.
James Sykes skittled out a number of the middle order batsmen, taking four wickets for 16 runs conceded as Kenilworth’s top bowler, helping dismiss the hosts for a 150 score.
Kenilworth made a steady start in reply despite losing Nick Seager (4) early on, with the visitors’ top-to-middle order providing solid totals between them.
Harry Butler (20) and Richard Linfield (33) stood out with top scores, with the latter putting on two successive partnerships of 21 with James Sykes (7) and Tom Mordey (19) to inch Wardens closer to their target.
But with Linfield caught by Ismail Mohammed off Zen Malik’s (2-25) delivery, the wheels almost instantly came off the visitors’ challenge.
Ben Fitzgerald (1), Matthew Hancock (0) and Joe Jordan (0) all failed to make an impact, cementing Kenilworth’s relegation in the cruelest of ways.
Kenilworth host Kidderminster on Saturday (noon) in their penultimate fixture of the season.
