BARNT Green breezed to a fourth successive Birmingham League victory after getting the better of title contenders Shrewsbury by a slender 28 run margin at Cherry Hill Road.

The Green recovered from an early order batting collapse which saw them slump to 21 for four at one stage to reach a much more encouraging 154 all out.

Australian James Psarakis came to the rescue with a well compiled 64 and found some lower order support from Darrell Williams and Ethan Holmes who hit a belated 27 not out.

The Green then made a glorious start when Shrewsbury replied as skipper Andy Sutton removed both England Under 19 and Worcestershire batsman Ollie Westbury together with dangerman Ed Foster in his first over without a single run on the scoreboard.

Shrewsbury never really recovered from that early setback and were eventually bowled out for 126 despite a brave 50 not out from their skipper Ben Stebbings.

A delighted Sutton said: "It got very tight at one stage as Ben Stebbings produced a captain's knock and threatened to get them home.

"Had I won the toss, I would have definitely bowled first as the weather conditions would have made the ball swing round corners.

"I would have liked to got close to 200, but we lost Tom Brown in the second over and then Ed Pollock went early.

"But despite our start, we managed to grind our way toward 160, which I thought was a very good score given the conditions.

"But I was determined to set the tone when Shrewsbury replied and make full use of the conditions. To take two wickets in the first over really fired us up, especially as there had been plenty of chatting and chirping when we were batting".

Sutton praised the performance of fellow strike bowler Adam Hines as the 16-year-old exploited the conditions perfectly to claim three for 31, while Sutton snapped up three for 41.

Warwickshire spinner Josh Poysden was then introduced into the attack to take three for 22 before Darrell Williams polished off the innings with the final wicket.

The win was made all the more sweeter as the Green were again missing a number of key players, including last week's nine wicket hero Alex Woods and Warwickshire's Matt Lamb.

Sutton may well have to shuffle the pack again this Saturday when the Green travel to mid-table side Kenilworth Wardens when they will be looking to make it five wins on the trot.

Sutton is resigned to being without Warwickshire's Poysden and England under-19 opening bat Tom Banton who made his first team debut for Somerset last Friday in the T20.

But the likes of Lamb, Woods, Pollock and Jamie Harrison should all be back in contention and Sutton warned: "It's important that everyone continues to work hard. It wasn't always smooth going against Shrewsbury but we were very good in the field and only put down one catch that I could remember and we have to take that work ethic into our next game."