Oswestry claimed another important win over a side off the top spot in the Birmingham and District Premier Cricket League Division Two for the second week running.

The Bordermen beat league leaders Harborne in a close game which saw them move two points behind the top spot in third place.

It is the second time in two weeks Oswestry have beat the league leaders after they won against Wolverhampton the previous week.

Skipper Dean Suter believes his side’s hard work is starting to pay off after the recent wins against some of the league’s best sides.

“The Harborne result was a massive win for us,” he said.

“All the hard work at the start of the season is starting to bear fruit.

“It was a great team performance from ourselves and the result was made even better with it being such a close contest.

“It seemed as though they were playing to avoid getting out rather than playing for runs. It felt like the right time to bring out our quick bowlers who often strike a lot of fear into teams, and it seemed to work again here.

“As far as batting is concerned, it was another great platform set by Warrick and Joe – I think they’re one of, if not, the best pair in the league. It’s not an easy job to open the batting, but they set a great platform a lot of the time for the other lads to build on, like we did this week.”

After reaching the halfway point in the season, Suter is happy with where his team are placed in the table.

He added: “We really don’t fear any teams we come up against. We’re a very attacking team in all aspects.

“Availability has been getting better and should continue to do so as we head further into the summer so it’s looking good.”

“We will be without Warrick for a few weeks now, and of course we’ll miss him, but we feel we have lads who can comfortably step into his place and do a job – we know the squad as a whole is good enough to win any game.

“We’re in a good place now in a very good league. He added: “If we’d have been told we’d be third in the league at the halfway stage in this league we would have taken it.”

On Saturday, Oswestry travel to second-placed Ombersley.