County stumble to a defeat at high-fliers

The County, following up two victories in the Vintage Cricket Festival, won the toss and asked the home team to bat at Worlington CC.

Trevor Knowles, who again produced an economical opening spell, gave the visitors an excellent start, trapping Doug Andrews lbw for six.

A well-judged catch by John Brookes then gave Pete Tudge a wicket before Richard Bond and the hard-hitting Andy Morgan restored Suffolk’s fortunes.

Martin Mudway bowled Morgan for 35 after the pair added 63 but Bond continued to bat well and, with help from Peter Webb, took the score past 150.

After a rain break, Barry Briscoe caught Bond for 83 off the bowling of Mudway (2-33) and Martin Woodward bowled home skipper Chris Watson for a duck.

Briscoe took a second catch to give Woodward (2-52) another wicket before the home side’s innings closed at 216-6.

In reply, Worcestershire enjoyed a steady start before Briscoe fell for 11 and John Shepherd (15) ran himself out.

Bruce Tomkins continued to frustrate the visitors’ batsmen with a tight spell, only conceding 12 runs in his nine overs.

Dick Brown and Colin Groves struggled and the latter fell to Robert Perrett for five.

Knowles (19) brought a little more urgency to the innings but Mark Sargeant bowled both him and Brookes before Brown fell to Perrett for 32.

At 96-6, Worcestershire were well behind the clock and Roger Price (20) and Woodward (23) settled for making the scoreline respectable.

But both fell to Graham Penny in the final overs as the visitors finished on 146-8.

Suffolk’s win confirmed their runner-up spot and they will appear in the championship final unless results in the other outstanding matches go with Essex.

Worcestershire still have several friendly matches to play but will need their batting to improve.

The County’s game with table-topping Hampshire was abandoned for the second time due to a waterlogged Pershore ground. Both teams took one point.