Ludlow 2nd 186 ao Wem 2nd 133 ao

SIMON Lane took 7-73 to lead Ludlow to a 53 run win at the Burway against Wem, and with Whitchurch losing, now find themselves unexpectedly back in the hunt to lift the Reserve division title. They have closed the gap to 14 points with four games to go.

Patrick Curtis (53), Steve Burgoyne (39), Rob Genner (32) and Steve Small (28) all batted well to take the score to 173-4 when the home side batted first after losing the toss. John Davies (6-48) returned to the attack to blast out the tail and leave Ludlow all out 186 off 47 overs.

When openers Danny Taylor (40) and Chris Spragg (40) reached 72 for the first wicket, with 53 overs at their disposal, the title challenge looked a long way away. Once they were shifted, however, Lane and Will Ephraim (2-42) soon accounted for the rest of the batting and Wem were all out in the 37th over for 133.