EVESHAM were denied victory by a stubborn eighth wicket stand after the home batsmen had shown their best form of the summer on a flat surface.

The home bowlers had 11 overs to end Belbroughton's late resistance but Hayward and Farmer stood firm and Evesham had to settle for a winning draw.

Jon Gregory (56) and Barry Clements (60) were Evesham's major rungetters in a total of 253-7 from 50 overs but consistency down the order augured well for future matches against higher ranked sides in Division Two of the Worcestershire County League.

Paul Jones (32), Richard Layton (21), Will Bailey (17no) and Stuart Langstone (18no) all enjoyed their stays at the middle in the glorious sunshine.

It was a different tale after tea as the visitors set their stall out to avoid defeat and they resisted the efforts of Langstone in particular, after the loss of two early wickets.

Mike Massingham picked up two wickets in mid-innings but, despite Langstone's 17-over stint realising figures of 5-58, Evesham were left frustrated, and still awaiting their first league win, at the finish.

There was Sunday sorrow at the hands of Redditch in the Club League when Australian Morgan slammed 115 as Evesham lost by 143 runs.

To cap a miserable weekend, both the second and third teams lost their league games by seven and six wickets respectively.

Dave Higginson hit 57 for the seconds at Belbroughton, who were on the wrong end of a seven-wicket defeat at Fladbury.

Chasing a massive 255 for victory, Fladbury won with 15 balls to spare thanks to 124 from Rob Haines and an unbeaten 79 from Steve Leonard.