PERSHORE'S battle to stay in the Birmingham League was brought to an abrupt end as league runners-up Aston Manor roared to a nine-wicket win in the space of 11 overs.

Results elsewhere failed to help Stephen Cooper's side on an afternoon when the bottom five clubs all lost.

Pershore's problem was their failure to gain any bonus points with the five pocketed by Redditch taking them three points clear of the bottom four sides leaving Moseley Ashfield and Pershore to join already relegated Penkridge and Lichfield in the drop zone.

Problems

Once again, the home side's batting let them down although a green wicket at The Bottoms was always going to present them with problems against a side who knew that victory would secure second place in Division Three behind champions Evesham.

Having lost the toss, Pershore went on to lose their opening five batsmen with only 49 runs on the board as Julius Benjamin and Ali Khan ran amok.

David White and Trevor Ridings battled valiantly to give the home bowlers something to bowl at but a final total of 82 was never going to give the hosts a chance of recording the win that would save them from a swift return to the Worcestershire County League.

And so it proved as the Manor men blasted 39 runs off the opening 30 balls in reply. Ian Hudson didn't waste any time when he arrived at the wicket cracking 39 off just 33 balls as the visitors raced to an emphatic final day success.

On a bad day for the Pershore club at least the second string batsmen showed some resilience after they had conceded 214-2 in the reverse fixture.

Chris Ridings hit an impressive 45 to help the visitors stave off defeat as Pershore finished on 153-8 to claim a losing draw.

At the right end of the Division Three standings, Evesham ended what has been a fabulous summer on a low note as Worcester successfully chased the champions' total of 260-9.

After being presented with the championship trophy, Evesham were quickly among the runs with Western Australian Mark Penter marking his final game with a superb century.

Ian Stowe, Barry Clements, Stuart Berry and young stumper Chris Weaver all weighed in with good knocks on a pitch that became progressively easier as the afternoon wore on.

So much so that Worcester, needing a win to secure their status, did just that thanks to 82 from opener Keyte and a crucial 69 from Gardiner just as spinners Penter and 15-year-old Jamie Anderson were threatening to bring the visitors back into the game.

Anderson was again in good form the next day when he picked up three wickets for eight runs off eight overs and hit an unbeaten 24 as the club's Academy side easily overcame Cheltenham Civil Service.

Earlier, Henry Newman (79) and Dave Mullett (53) had impressed with the bat in a 40-over total of 244-4.