ANOTHER superb captain's innings by Matt Pardoe steered Herefordshire to a Minor Counties Championship win over Wales in their final match at Eastnor.

Pardoe, who scored 127 in the win over Cornwall in the previous match, this time scored 125 as Herefordshire chased down 274 to win by four wickets.

The former Worcestershire batsman was aided in a fourth wicket stand of 164 by teenager Nick Hammond, who fell just short of a deserved century of his own when he was caught for 93, with only 12 wanted for victory, after battering 17 fours and a six.

Herefordshire had begun promisingly after losing the toss and bowling first.

Dan Conway (2-67) and Barney Morgan (2-28) claimed four early scalps to leave Wales reeling at 47-4.

With David Ball (5-35) returning his first five-wicket haul for the county, Wales slipped further to 124-8 before almost doubling their score from the final two wickets.

Some mighty hitting by Prem Sisodiya, who lashed seven fours and five sixes as he raced to 82 from 63 balls, dominated a last-wicket stand of 91 with Tomos Jones (14 not out) as Wales closed on 242.

Although Pardoe looked at ease in the early stages on his way to a composed 37, Herefordshire struggled to come to terms with the Wales attack as wickets went down on a regular basis.

Only Kieran Smith held firm as the Herefordshire innings subsided to 113-8 and a substantial first-innings deficit looked likely.

Smith, however, was then joined by Taylor Pugh and the pair set about launching a recovery with a ninth-wicket stand of 77 before Smith was finally bowled by Sisodiya for 61 after more than four hours at the crease.

Pugh was left on 38 not out when the innings closed at 194.

Conway (2-36) again made a couple of early breakthroughs when Wales batted again but although Peter Burgoyne (4-42) pegged the visitors back, their final total of 225 left Herefordshire with comfortably the biggest total of the match to chase for victory.

But although three early wickets went down, Pardoe again proved an immovable object, hitting 13 fours and a six and becoming the 18th player to pass 1,000 runs for the county as well as being the first player since Charlie Walker in 2013 to complete 500 runs for a championship season.

Herefordshire finished in seventh place in the Western Division table, ahead of Wales, Cornwall and Wiltshire.