A VITAL 44 from Luke Miles helped Ludlow & South Shropshire to scrape a narrow victory over St Georges.

The Shropshire County League Premier Division clash was in the balance right to the end before the hosts won by two wickets thanks largely to Miles.

Coming in with his side 59-6 in pursuit of 139 for victory he provided the recovery needed to get across the line.

The visitors, having won the toss, opted to bat first and found runs hard to come by as wickets fell regularly.

Skipper Will Sparrow was the main architect taking 5-17 as St Georges found themselves in all sorts of trouble at 67-7.

Then Simon Chester made 41 and Neil Davies added a valuable 21 before both were dismissed by Sam Edwards (2-28). Matthew Kennedy (2-20) then came back to finish things off.

But, after tea, Ludlow soon found themselves up against it, crashing to 13-3. Jamie Griffiths removed Dylan Grinker and Sam Roberts, before Ben Byram bowled Jack Griffiths, all three going without a run to their name.

Edwards became Byram’s second victim for 16 when the score had reached 30 and, after a brief rally, Richard Taylor departed to leave the home side 51-5.

Glen Whittaker then fell with the score at 59 and, a run later, Sparrow was on his way for 18 as Jamie Griffiths completed his five-for (5-40).

Miles, though, steadied the ship getting good support from wicketkeeper Richard Mapp (16 not out) and when he did eventually fall at 117 there was still some work to do but Taylor found a reliable ally in Louis Watkins (13 not out) as Ludlow put the game to bed at the end of the 37th over.

Liam Forrester’s 5-13 condemned Ludlow 2nd to a heavy 174-run defeat at St Georges 2nd.

The hosts made 245-9 thanks to skipper Matthew Conliffe’s 62 and a half-century for Emrys Hughes (55). Ben Roberts (2-45) and Jake Wilkes (2-25) were the pick of the Ludlow bowlers while there was also a wicket each for Joe Williams, Marcus Griffiths and Tom Miller, run outs accounting for the other two to fall.

But Forrester then tore through the visitors after Lewis Davies (3-19) had made the early inroads along with Naz Akhtar who took 1-9 from eight tidy overs. In the end they were shot out for just 71, Roberts (16) the only man to reach double figures.

Ludlow’s Under-11s were five-wicket winners at Burghill, Tillington and Weobley in the Herefordshire Junior League North Division.