COLWALL have underlined their promotion potential in Division Two of the Worcestershire League with a four-wicket win over county rivals Wormelow.

Colwall are now 22 points clear of third-placed Enville with five matches remaining.

For a time, Colwall skipper James Abel must have been questioning his decision to invite Wormelow to bat first as openers Jamie Banfield and skipper Ben Owens (20) reached 76 before being parted.

After that, however, although Banfield (117) went on to score his third century of the season and is now just short of 1,000 runs for the campaign at 942, only Shaun Waldron (24) passed 20 as the visitors were dismissed for 223.

The final five wickets went down for just 16 as Tom Coleman (4-37) and Ben Butler (3-12) got to work.

Coleman (50) and Nick Panniers (38) got the Colwall reply under way with a stand of 96 and it was all relatively plain sailing from there as, despite a good stint from left-arm spinner Dylan Baynham (4-62), the hosts eased home with 14 overs to spare.

In Division One, Bromyard fought out a thrilling draw with Worcester which ended with the scores level.

Eral Anderson top-scored in Bromyard’s 227-7 but the visitors matched their score, for the loss of nine wickets, to claim the winning draw points.

With the prospect of three clubs going down from Division One, third-from-bottom Burghill and Tillington could be vulnerable after a 142-run home loss to second-from-bottom Droitwich Spa.

Max Young lashed 127 in Droitwich’s 287-7 and none of the hosts’ batsmen were able to make a similar response with the top score coming from skipper Mark Preece (29 not out).

Harry King’s 52 ensured that mid-table Ross gained a comfortable six-wicket win over Stourbridge Social in Division Three.

And left-arm spinner Luke Sparrow’s remarkable run of success continued as Bartestree and Lugwardine retained their outside hope of promotion in Division Four with a 92-run win over Old Hill 3rd.

By taking 5-11, Sparrow extended his tally of wickets to 17 in just three matches, this after contributing a useful 27 to the villagers’ 185 all out.

Nine points from their final two matches will secure the Division Six title for Canon Frome after a high-scoring draw at Ombersley 3rd.

Andy Rogers (81) and Mark Godsall (57) passed the half-century mark, with Nicko Evans (49) falling just one short as Frome piled up 294-9.

But the hosts gave a spirited response and had reached 264-8 when the overs ran out.

In the Second Xl competition, a superb all-round performance from Tim Riley, who scored 99 and took 5-63, led Colwall to a 54-run win over Hagley.

And Wormelow openers Luke Jones (94no) and Matt Deem (73no) chased down the Ross total of 183 without being parted.