Droitwich 258-5 Eastnor 221-8

Droitwich grab a winning draw

DROITWICH Spa CC's title challenge stepped up a gear when they took the lion's shares of points to leap frog Eastnor and move into third place in the Worcestershire League Division One on Saturday.

Fine batting performances by Richard Ferley and Andy van Vuuren made sure that Droitwich were able to step up their pursuit of leaders Kington.

Despite rising to third Droitwich still have a mountain to climb after Kington stretched their advantage over Spa to 40 points, after a 171 run win over basement side Romsley and Hunnington.

However, player Adrian Field is confident that Spa can keep the pressure on Kington and Brockhampton.

He said: "We've only lost to the leaders in the league this season and have carved out a really good run of late.

"We've got to keep the pressure on Kington and Brockhampton by winning as many games as we possibly can.

"We're playing some good cricket right now and if the weather is a bit iffy it might allow us to pick up points when other teams drop them."

Droitwich recovered from the loss of opener Gary Cartwright, who was bowled by Mohammed Adeel, for six runs. Alex Kolb grabbed a handy 30 runs before Jabran Khlaid had him caught by Atiq Ur-Rehman.

But Richard Ferley justified being moved up the batting order by hitting 87, while Van Vuurren smashed 69 off 42 balls to put Droitwich in control.

Damon Gariff also chipped in with a crucial 37 not out as Droitwich made 258-5 in 50 overs.

Van Vuuren struck quickly with the ball to rattle Eastnor's batting order, dismissing Bollen (0) and Ur-Rehman (0), while Michael Rogers got rid of opener Beale for ten runs.

Eastnor launched a middle order fight back, before Karl Goddard had Adeel caught by Gariff for 54 and Walsh captured Arshad (25).

Spa's opponents were closing in on Droitwich's total after Jabran Khalid (42) and Faisal Khalid (40) had got amongst the runs, before they were dismissed by Rogers. Droitwich kept Eastnor's lower order batsmen at bay and restrict the team to 221-8 by the end of the 50th over. Droitwich go to bottom side Romsley and Hunnington this Saturday (1.30pm start).