LOCAL bragging rights went to Church Stretton in the Shropshire County League Division Two derby with Bishop’s Castle.

A first league half-century from Daniel Watts and an unbeaten 35 from Jonathan Wood helped Stretton to 179-7 off 40 overs, and Bishop’s responded with 101-7 to concede a losing draw.

Stretton skipper Peter Lee, who took 3-9, admitted: “We picked a young side and it paid dividends, especially in the field where Jonathan Wood and Tom Quraishi both took excellent catches.

“Apart from myself and Andrew Chapman, I think the rest of the team were all under 25 and it was good to perform well after having a poor June.

“Tom Crump bowled particularly well to take four wickets and once Bishop’s Castle had lost early wickets, they obviously looked to play out for a draw.”

Watts struck ten boundaries in his 56 off 80 balls, with opener Saif Khalid (33) also chipping in with useful runs.

Castle were soon 47-5 in reply as seamer Crump (4-21 off 12 overs) caused all manner of problems and only three batsmen managed to reach double figures, opener Andrew Lewis (27), skipper Tom Moulder (24) and Richard Powell (10 not out).

Corvedale went down by four wickets to visiting Church Aston in Division Three.

Opener Adam Williams (58) and captain Ross Mantle (52) dominated Corvedale’s 183-9, but Church Aston had the match-winner in opener Gurjeet Saini, whose 126 not out got his side home on 186-6 with more than seven overs to spare.

Rob Genner produced another quality innings for Ludlow 3rd against Llanidloes, hitting eight fours and four sixes in a lusty 88 not out. But support was thin on the ground, and only openers Steve Small (20) and Kevin Boulton (37) made anything like worthy contributions towards Ludlow’s 173.

Matching that proved a breeze for the Welsh side, with openers Adrian Foulkes (93 not out) and Geraint Evans (70 not out) needing only 30.5 overs to complete a crushing ten-wicket verdict.

Opener Phil Lewis carried his bat for an unbeaten 77 out of Ludlow 4th’s 170-8 against Shrewsbury 4th in Division Five, but it also proved in vain as the visitors swept to a seven-wicket success.

Lewis watched his first five partners disappear for a combined total of just six runs, and it needed some tail-wagging from Jake Wilkes (16) and Robin Hillman (who contributed 37 batting at No.9) to provide Lewis with some belated backing.

Mark Sivetor claimed two early wickets but Shrewsbury were mostly untroubled in knocking off the runs.

Corvedale 2nd collapsed to 90 all out against Allscott 3rd, who had earlier posted 169-4, while in the Marches League

Knighton-on-Teme had a second successive weekend without bowling a ball.

Knighton, forced to call off the previous week’s visit to Glangrwyney, were this time on the receiving end as Division Two bottom markers Builth Wells 2nd were unable to raise a side for the trip across the border.