BARNT Green's hopes of winning the Birmingham and District League Premier title were ended after losing to leaders West Bromwich Dartmouth by 128 runs.

The second-placed side saved one of their poorest performances of the season for a must-win game in the Black Country.

Having lost the toss and being out into bowl first by the hosts, Green had made a breakthrough when Luke Radford dismissed Basit Zaman for a duck.

But Kadeer Ali built a patient innings to keep West Bromwich scoring steadily, despite the loss of Brinder Phagura (10) and Daniel Bassett (12).

Ali and Zeesham Asif (73) guided Green's opponents from 63-3 to 127-4 and the hosts eventually reached 219-6 in 50 overs, with the visitors conceding 41 extras, while Tom Burton (2-46) and Simon Mugava (2-28) were Barnt's main wicket-takers.

But on a wicket that was beginning to help West Bromwich's spinners, Green were dismissed for 91 runs.

Only Burton (20) and Edward Pollock (24) got among the runs but Ali (4-21) and Asqad Ali (3-10) tore through Green's batting order.

Captain Andy Sutton said: "We didn't perform to our best.

"We are a young side and a few players felt the pressure playing in this match.

"We lost the toss on a wicket that helped spin later on and we've been unable to play spin all season.

"If you lose to the better side and you've given everything I can accept that but there were one or two batsmen who were disappointed with their shots."

Green though are still second in the table and will be aiming to seal the runners-up spot in their final two matches.

They go to already relegated Himley on Saturday (noon start) and end the season on September 13 at home to Brockhampton.

Sutton added: "We are looking to bounce back and finish second.

"It has still been a good season, nobody predicted how successful we would be.

"The team is very young and apart from one or two players, have yet to reach their peak."