CENTURIES from Kidderminster’s Neil Pinner and Shameer Ahmed condemned Kenilworth Wardens to a fifth loss of the season in Birmingham & District Premier Division One.
The Wardens started brightly in their hunt to reach the 268, but lost their way in the middle order to ultimately fall short by 53 runs at 214 all out.
After winning the toss, Kenilworth decided to field first, taking two wickets in quick succession as soon as the first batsman fell.
Connor Smith (22) was first to go at 38-1 when bowled for an lbw by Jabez Weale, with Andrew Kimberlin (20) then bowled by Tommy Rex at 46-2.
Angus Robson (11) was then dismissed when caught and bowled by James Sykes, but Kidderminster soon began to run riot as Pinner (100) and Ahmed (101 not out) hit 120 before the former was caught by Keith Bell from another Sykes delivery.
The runs did not ease up despite Pinner’s absence from the crease, as Ahmed continued his unbeaten stint at the bat with Chris Steele (8 not out) to finish the Kidderminster innings on 267-4.
Kenilworth were steady in their run rate as the opening three batsmen of Keith Bell (15), Nick Seager (45) and Nathan Edwards (17) hit solid totals, and were aided by the 76 laid on by number four Harry Johnson.
Johnson became an ever-present up until the ninth wicket, but other than the seventh-wicket partnership of 62 with captain Mark Pidgeon (13), was unable to strike up any real momentum with the batting partners that continued to come and go.
Matthew Hancock (2) was the final Wardens batsman to go, leaving the visitors all out in the 45th over.
Kenilworth aim to clinch a positive result when hosting Walsall at Glasshouse Park on Saturday (noon).
