BARNT Green put themselves back into title contention with a comfortable five wicket win over Dorridge.

Victory means the third-placed Cherry Hill Road side are now just 25 points behind Birmingham League Premier table-toppers West Bromwich Dartmouth.

A maximum points haul of 24 was earned after a fine performance by Green's bowlers.

Dorridge had won the toss but had opted to bat first, a decision they were left to rue as Barnt's bowling attack dismissed them for 149.

Captain Andy Sutton took 3-44, while Darrel Williams bagged 2-12 and Simon Jackson, Luke Radford, Tom Burton and Simon Mugava took one wicket each.

The only batsman to trouble them was Oliver Haley, who made 60 runs before he was caught and bowled by Williams.

Green struggled to 52-4, before Edward Pollock's quickfire 72 off 52 balls and 29 from Radford steered them to 152-5 in 23 overs.

Sutton said: "If we had won the toss I would have bowled first because the wicket was extremely flat.

"We bowled and fielded well as a team and that set us up for victory.

"Ed Pollock also played well but we needed that win after losing to Kidderminster last week.

"We learned from our mistakes and now we're right back in the title race."

Barnt Green go into the One Day International win/lose format in good shape and face an important game at second-placed Berkswell on Saturday (noon start).

In their final six games, Sutton's side face the top two away, with Berkswell and Dartmouth also clash on the penultimate weekend of the season.

"The end of the season is going to be very tight," commented the captain.

"It's going to be too close to call. We've got a very tough game against Berkswell but I am looking forward to it because there will be a lot of good players on show.

"All we can do is focus on each game as it comes and keep getting results."

Green will also be hosting the West Midlands area finals of the ECB National T20 Club Cup on Sunday (10.30am start) after it was rained last weekend.

Green tackle Staffordshire side Stone SP, while Menai Bridge and Chester Boughton Hall are in action in the other semi-final, with the winners meeting in the afternoon.