ALCESTER and Ragley crashed to their third straight defeat in the Cotswold Hills Premier Division on Saturday at home by seven wickets, against Moreton-in-Marsh.

Batting first, Alcester got off to a solid start with Lewis Clark 18 and Shaun Quirk 19 adding 30 for the first wicket. However, runs were proving difficult to score against an excellent batting attack and the run-rate was very slow. Gerald Greenway top scored for Alcester with 48 not out closely followed by Gary Strain 37 as the middle order batsman added a useful 70 runs, but Alcester finished on a disappointing 160-6 off 45 overs.

In reply Moreton started well and were up with the run-rate and Alcester never got enough wickets to make their total look challenging and a quick 52 not out from Gillott made sure Moreton passed Alcester's total with 7 overs to spare.