Richards is the headline act following a brilliant century

The West Indian grabbed the headlines with a brilliant innings of 174 in the 213-run Premier Division win at Frankton.

Richards’ runs came from 125 balls and included 16 fours and 13 sixes and helped his side pile up 378-7 from 50 overs.

Alex Biddle offered support with a half-century while Tom Whitney, Oliver Plank, Ben Miller and Ryan Wheldon all chipped in with 20s.

Terry Hughes then led the way with the ball for Quatt, picking up 4-34 as Frankton were dismissed for 165.

Table-toppers Worfield dug themselves out of a spot of bother to chalk up another victory.

Worfield were rocked early on by hosts Newport as they lost two wickets with just one run on the board and were then reduced to 50-4.

One of the early strikes saw Johar Ahmed claim an unusual hat-trick. Having taken the last two Ludlow wickets in successive balls the previous week, Johar struck with his first delivery on Saturday.

Worfield skipper Will Cook (34) then helped steady the ship with Tarik Shorey (27), Ryan Quiney (46) and Joseph Arnold (25) steering their side to 192 all out.

In reply, Saqib Akbar played a lone hand for Newport, scoring 83 out of their total of 133.

Quiney capped a fine individual performance by picking up 3-21 while Matthew Rees took 3-50.

Second-placed Sentinel remain 31 points adrift of the leaders following a comfortable 132-run triumph away to Shrewsbury seconds.

Kyle Klein (51 not out), George Cheshire (43), Ed Ashlin (36) and Lloyd Edwards (33) were the main contributors in Sentinel’s 237-8.

Klein followed up his run-scoring exploits by claiming 3-27 as Shrewsbury fell for 105 in reply. James Shaw also impressed with the ball to record figures of 3-14 from 10 overs.

A superb display with the ball set fourth-placed Madeley on the way to an impressive six-wicket success at home to Wellington.

Imesh Udayanga and Oliver Davis took 3-37 and 3-18 respectively to help roll Wellington over for 109 – Luke Goring (30) was the only visiting batsmen to pass 20.

Imesh Udayanga then struck 42 to see his side over the line despite the efforts of Adithya Manigandan who took 3-17.

Whitchurch’s batsmen piled up the runs against Shelton.

Maisam Hasnain Jaffri (81), Mubeen Rashid (62) and Elliott Bowen (51) were in good touch as Whitchurch made 273-8.

Shelton were then shot out for 98 in reply, Patrick Phillips picking up 4-36

Ludlow cruised to an eight-wicket win at Allscott Heath.

Joe Williams (4-31) and Jason Oakes (3-38) did the damage as Allscott were dismissed for 164 – Carl Starling top scored with 38.

Oakes (61 not out) and Luke Miles (50 not out) then eased Ludlow home in 32 overs.