In-form Alam bats Brewood out of the game to keep Spa in title picture

After being put in, Spa lost Jonathan Wigley early before Shahbaz Alam and Max Webber put on a fine 96-run partnership for the second wicket, with Webber (54) compiling his second successive half-century.

Alam and captain David Bailey (70) then compiled an excellent third-wicket partnership of 139.

Lee Hopkins added a quickfire 32 to help Leamington reach a formidable 309 for six from their 55 overs.

Alam, who fell with three balls of the innings remaining, compiled a masterful 132 to add to his previous three scores of 43 not out, 58 and 85.

In reply, Brewood slid to 48 for three in the face of accurate bowling from Grant Thornton (14-4-44-2) and Tom Warner (12-1-34-1).

The introduction of spin pegged the visitors back even further as Mark Ashcroft (2-38) and Nabeel Ashgar (1-27) ripped through the middle order to reduce Brewood to 133 for seven.

However, with the best part of 20 overs to go, Leamington failed to take any more wickets as Bird (28 not out) and the injured Wedge (29 not out) batted admirably to put on 70 for the eighth wicket.

Leamington’s long round- trip of 160 miles to Brockhampton proved fruitless as they were defeated by three wickets.

Leamington’s top order failed to fire with only Jack Bewick (22) and Billy Hallett (24) troubling the scorers to any extent.

Once again, it was left to Jason Butler to post a challenging total, with the captain’s unbeaten 76 containing many strokes very much in keeping with Brockhampton’s agricultural surroundings.

He was given some late support by Paul Lawrence who made 20.

Leamington were dismissed off the last ball of the innings for a below-par 182.

Tom Davison struck twice to give Leamington early hope, but 54 from Koelewyn and 37 from Harrhy turned the match in Brock’s favour.

Three wickets from Ollie Currill in a testing spell was not quite enough to swing the match back Leamington’s way as the hosts reached 186 for seven with four overs to spare.

A cautious, watchful innings by skipper Matthew Dale (21 not out) guided Leamington 3rds to a valuable four-wicket win over fellow Cotswold Hills Premier Division strugglers Elmley Castle.

The game moved to a conclusion at barely two runs per over but it had been so very different at the start of the match as Sheward (63) bludgeoned Elmley to 106 for one inside 20 overs.

At this point, the veteran spin combination of Smith (4-22) and Wayne Killian (4-20) gained a stranglehold on the innings which subsided to 128 all out in just 12 more overs.

The Leamington reply got off to a hesitant start, moving to 17 for two and then 72 for four before Dale joined David Lord (31) and the pair took the score to within six runs of victory before the skipper sealed the win with a signature slap-drive through mid-wicket for four.