MALVERN produced another excellent performance to beat local rivals Worcester Nomads in a thrilling finish at Regency Road in this WCL Division Two fixture.

MALVERN v WORCESTER NOMADS

Malvern enjoyed an excellent start, due to an opening partnership of 93 from Paul Young and Mark Baugh, before Baugh departed for a solid 29.

Luke Halion had a rare failure but this brought the prolific Rob Francis to the crease - meanwhile Young was in superb form with shots all around the wicket and looked certain to record a hundred, until he was trapped lbw for an excellent 85. Francis again was in superb form and moved effortlessly to a stylish 64 before he was out in the last over.

Adam Dovey, Steven Carter and Sam Peachey all made useful contributions to enable Malvern skipper Neal Thompson to declare at 252-6. Ian Jinks was easily the pick of the Nomads' bowlers.

Nomads started confidently in their run chase until Harris was brilliantly caught by wicket keeper David Arnold down the leg side. Dixon hit a breezy 25, but the introduction of Mark Hooper was crucial as he claimed two wickets in an improving spell. Malcolm Jones continued to bat well but wickets fell at regular intervals with Jeremy Lee and Francis both bowling quickly to give Malvern a chance of victory.

At the beginning of the penultimate over Malvern still needed two wickets and with the experienced pair of Jones and Jinks together it seemed they would have to settle for a winning draw. However Francis accounted for Jones and two balls later bowled Wooler to give Malvern a maximum 24 points.

Malvern were again very good in the field, Halion's superb diving catch the highlight.