FINE bowling by all-rounder Shahid Ahmed, who secured the excellent figures of 7-54 in a 70-run win over Netherton, took Eastnor back to the top of the Crusader Worcester-shire County League Division 1.

Eastnor scored steadily throughout the order with leading contributions coming from Jabran Khalid (38), Adil (32) and Ishtiaq (23) as the villagers reached 192-8.

Netherton's reply foundered against the pace of Shahid, with only three players reaching double figures as the home side were dismissed for 122.

There was bad news for previous league pacemakers Brockhampton who went down by seven wickets at home at Bewdley.

After losing the toss and being put in to bat, Brockhampton made a shaky start and limped to 50-4 before opener Stuart Jennings was joined by skipper Andrew Watkins and the pair set about repairing the damage.

Jennings compiled 60 and Watkins reached, 34, but, after the pair were separated, the remaining batsmen experienced difficulty against off-spinner S Mauger (4-33) and the visitors were all out for 176.

Bewdley started well in reply before being pegged back by some accurate bowling from seamers Roy Wargen and Richard Parker.

But some good batting by Simon Smith (88 not out) saw the home side to victory, although Brockhampton did not help their chances by dropping five catches.

Bromyard, who were level on points with Brockhampton at the start of play, also lost for the first time, going down by seven wickets to Ombersley.

Bromyard were dismissed for just 132 with N Dale-Lace (5-26) doing the damage and the home side were then steered home by former Worcestershire all-rounder Duncan Catterall's unbeaten 66.

Kington also suffered their first defeat of the season when they went down by 47 runs at Stourbridge, who came good after suffering three defeats to start the season.

The home side were boosted by Pakistani H Farhat who arrived on Friday and made his debut after just four hours sleep, announcing his arrival by hitting his first ball for six on his way to 43 off just 24 balls.

H Dhoolab contributed 59 for the home side while Kevin Gwynne (4-80) was the pick of the Kington bowlers.

In reply, Kington lost wickets at regular intervals with only skipper Steve Williams (40) and Edward Symonds (47) staying around for long before the visitors were dismissed for 157.

Luctonians were made to suffer as Pershore extracted revenge for one of their most humiliating defeats two seasons ago.

On that occasion, Luctonians whipped out the Worcestershire side for a meagre 22 but the boot was firmly on the other foot this time as the Kingsland side slumped to a 205-run defeat.

Luctonians won the toss and elected to field first but must have been regretting their decision as a third-wicket stand of 185 between Lee Wilks, who raced to 133 before being bowled by Shaun Johnston, and L Ridings (88 not out) took the home side to a formidable 275-3.

In reply, only Jonathan Davis, with 22, was able to resist the home attack for any length of time and Luctonians were dismissed for 70 in just 22 overs.