WORCESTER were put to the sword when they visited Himley in Division One of the Birmingham & District League and were clinically beaten by 176 runs.

Fielding an under strength side due to an injury to their overseas player Leighton Hammond and captain Chris Eyes one of three other first-team players away on holiday, Worcester were always going to be up against it against a strong Himley outfit.

Jim Mayor won the toss for the home side and decided to bat.

Openers Lincoln Roberts and Richard Cooper set about the bowling from the word go and added 129 for the first wicket before West Indies international Roberts was dismissed for a hard-hit 72.

Aggressive

David Middleton cracked an aggressive 40 and with Cooper going on to compile a superb 84 the home side were able to declare on 276-5 in the 51st over.

Best bowlers for Worcester were Phil Knight (3-68) and Andy Van Vuren with 2-63.

Worcester were always going to find a 277 target a tough one and they struggled in reply by the pace duo of Mayer and James Burgoyne.

Top scorer for Worcester was Ian Stowe (23) as they were blown away for a paltry 100.

Mayer took 3-23 and Burgoyne 4-38 as Worcester collected just two points from the league match while Himley bagged 20.

Worcester's seconds continued to give cause for concern in the batting department and were again responsible for their latest defeat at the hands of Ombersley at Norton.

The home side could only mustre a meagre 119 all out with 15-year-old Dan Tarver top scoring with 19, as Greg Ritchie grabbed 5-34 in an impressive spell of 14 overs.

The visitors had little trouble in reply racing to 123-3 with Ian Pugh (52) and Jim Sobey (25) leading the way, despite Bryan Clarke bowling well to take 2-18.

Ombersley took 20 points while Worcester claimed just one for their efforts.