THERE was plenty to enthuse about as Evesham cemented their early season position at the top of Birmingham League Division Three, writes Mervyn Collins.

Saturday's clash at a hot and humid Avon Street said lots about the talent at the disposal of coach Simon Price and skipper Barry Clements and much more about the side's steely determination to succeed.

Questions were asked on several occasions about the hunger and desire to earn promotion and Evesham came up with the answer every time.

Latterly, it was Ian Suckling who proved to be the matchwinner on an afternoon when several teammates also stood strong when it mattered.

All the home side's fine work with bat and ball looked like being wasted as Ali and Pritchard embarked on a seventh wicket stand that seemed destined to frustrate the league leaders.

However, when Clements threw Suckling the ball, albeit with a hint of desperation perhaps, the left-armer came up trumps and dismissed both men in the space of his opening five balls.

Six wickets down and 117 from victory, Aston Manor's reply now teetered on the brink of defeat at 162-8 and, when Suckling struck again, the points were as good as wrapped up.

It was left to Neal Radford to secure an 88-run triumph when he splattered the stumps to send out an ominous warning to Evesham's title rivals that they are going to take some stopping.

The Birmingham visitors had knocked 48 off their daunting target after ten of their 55 post-tea overs when another inspired bowling change saw Radford make the breakthrough.

The guile of Clements was again to the fore when Mark Penter was chucked the ball and he obliged with a second wicket in his second over.

Chris Weaver clung onto a steepler to give Radford a second victim and, with the scoreboard reading 61-3, the hosts were in the ascendancy.

Where Radford failed in the field, Will Bailey and Francois Nel succeeded as two more wickets for the Australian left the visitors staring defeat in the face at 95-5. Nel then sent Ali Khan's stumps crashing without addition to the score and it was left to Ali and Pritchard to embark on a survival act.

It looked like working until Suckling's arrival and the left-arm medium pacer completed a fine afternoon's work and excellent individual display.

The hero with the ball had earlier helped Penter add 90 for the first wicket before both departed within the space of three runs for 31 and 53 respectively.

Stuart Berry helped Clem-ents, who was dropped twice, add 34 and leave the hosts on 127-3 with 21 overs remaining before he became the third victim of the day.

Radford's arrival must have been viewed with some envy by the visitors who saw the ex-England man at his glorious best in a fourth wicket stand worth 147.

The captain made Aston pay for those lapses in the field with a fine knock of 82 that only ended when exhau-stion saw him run-out leaving Radford unbeaten on 70 when the innings drew to a close.

Will Bailey and Nel didn't really trouble the Manor opening pair but, once Rad-ford and Penter had made the initial inroads, Suckling came on to prove the unlikely star with the ball.