COOKLEY moved off the bottom of Worcestershire League Division Two with a winning draw at fellow strugglers Pedmore.

The villagers earned 15 points in a morale-boosting performance which did much to restore their pride after losing three of the first four games.

New Zealander Greg Arnold found form with 40 runs, while Lee Shewry continued his good run with a similar score to give the villagers a fighting chance with 180.

D Skelding's 4-15 helped dismiss Cookley who pushed Pedmore down to the foot of the table on Saturday.

But they just could not snatch victory, despite a superb spell of drift bowling by Shewry, as well as excellent work from Arnold and Craig Homer in the field.

Cookley 180, Pedmore 158-9.

The seconds were comprehensively beaten at Lea Lane by Pedmore and also take up the penultimate place in the league table.

B Taylor's 5-16 restricted the home side to 128 all out and that total was never going to be enough on a decent batting surface, despite 41 from Martin Williams.

Pedmore were cruising home, thanks to 59 runs from M Layton, but lost late batsmen to record a close four-wicket win.

Mark Guest claimed 4-43 for Cookley who could only pick up three points at the weekend.

Cookley 2nds 128, Pedmore 130-6.