WORCESTERSHIRE Royals are in danger of facing a relegation battle after a disappointing eight-wicket defeat against Warwickshire Bears in yesterday's National Lea-gue division one clash at New Road.

The setback leaves them second from bottom in the table just four points better off than basement club Yorkshire Phoenix.

The Bears clinched victory with 23 balls to spare against a County side who hope their fortunes will improve when they have a string of players back available for selection.

Yesterday Worcestershire failed to score enough runs to prevent the Bears from clinching a comfortable win thanks to Ian Bell and Jonathan Trott. They put on an undefeated 158 for the third wicket after their side had lost Nick Knight and Neil Carter with the score on 61.

A 219-run target, however, presented few problems for Bell who made 97 not out and Trott who was unbeaten on 56. Bell collected 14 fours off 79 balls while Trott hit three fours off 102 deliveries.

After winning the toss Worcestershire's decision to bat first looked like paying rich dividends as they raced to 101 off the first 15 overs. In the end, however, they had to settle for a 218-8 with Anurag Singh notching a league-best 97 against his former county.

He cracked one six and nine fours in an innings which, despite falling in tempo after reaching 50 off 44 balls, illustrated his eagerness to shine.

He said: "Whenever you get a chance you try and make your mark. I look to be positive in four-day games and I look to be positive in one-dayers."

Singh put on 96 in 15 overs with fellow opener Stephen Peters, but the Bears did well to stem the flow and ousted Ben Smith, Justin Kemp and David Leatherdale in quick succession.

Gareth Batty, with 31 off 25 balls and an unbeaten 16 by Steve Rhodes gave a welcome lift to a total which proved insufficient to stop Warwickshire from registering their third win of the season.