Shinfield extended their lead at the top of the division with their tenth victory of the season with a 12-run win against Mortimer West End.
It was a disastrous start for Shinfield as they lost opening batsman Saketh Chodimella for a duck after he was caught and bowled by Andy Trott with only one run on the scoreboard.
They recovered from the early scare well to build some runs with Shashank Garg and Arun Kumar partnered at the middle together. The next wicket fell with Shinfield on 65, as Kumar was dismissed for 29, before Garg followed quickly on 38 with the score at 69-3.
Anuraag Shukla batted a fine innings as Shinfield progressed over the century mark and helped his side to 150 before he lost his wicket having hit eight fours and a six on his way to scoring 56.
Shinfield remained consistent throughout the order as they continued to build a challenging total with Noel Joseph contributing 29 runs before Muhammad Hafeez and Majid Hussain both scored 15 runs in the tail order.
The delayed start to the match due to wet pitch conditions meant that Shinfield finished their reduced innings of 35 overs with an impressive score of 220-8.
With a big total to chase from just 35 overs, Mortimer lost an early wicket as Shinfield found a breakthrough in just the second over as Shukla caught out George Williams on five, bowled by Garg.
A spectacular next pairing from William Bray and Adam Tellford saw Mortimer make brilliant progress towards the chase as they fell just two runs shy of the century mark before Bray fell for 32.
Shinfield then began to put the pressure on Mortimer as they added another quick wicket to remove Nick Kingston for just one run with the score at 104-3.
But Mortimer bounced back and maintained a strong run rate as Telford smashed three fours and four sixes as he hit a rapid 80 runs from just 64 balls before Shinfield gained a crucial wicket in the match to remove him with the score at 164-4.
The momentum began to swing Shinfield’s way as they picked up another quick wicket to dismiss Josh Beale for two runs with Mortimer on 167-5.
Steve Audsley caused problems for Shinfield as Mortimer continued to progress nearer to the target as he knocked 47 runs from 34 balls to put victory within reach for the visitors.
But Shinfield held on for the win as they defended their target by just 12 runs in a closely contested battle.
Shinfield batting: Garg 38, Chodimella 0, Kumar 29, Shukla 56, Joseph 29, Prowse 14, Hafeez 15, Hussain 15, L Safdar 12no, Nair 0no, H Safdar dnb.
Shinfield bowling: Garg 2-36, Shul;a 0-35, Safdar 0-33, Hafeez 2-42, Kumar 2-39, Nair 1-10.
